ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO AP. PIANIST HERBIE
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: CHARLES J. GANS ASSOCIATED PRESS
As a 20-year-old sideman, fresh out of college in 1960, pianist Herbie Hancock served his apprenticeship with visiting jazz masters in his hometown Chicago, honing his skills on the standards ``Stella by Starlight,'' ``Autumn Leaves'' and other Tin Pan Alley tunes.
Cut to a November 1995 trio date at the Blue Note club in New York. Hancock, by then a jazz legend in his own right, was playing some of the same old standards, as well as his own compositions such as ``Cantaloupe Island'' that had become part of the jazz repertoire.
Such experiences led the pianist to start thinking: Perhaps it's time to discover some new standards.
``When we think of standards in jazz, we still really think of tunes by Cole Porter and the Gershwins, writers of the '30s and '40s, and this is 1996,'' said the 56-year-old Hancock.
``We've been calling those tunes standards for a long time. How long is that going to go on? When are we going to begin speaking of newer songs as being standards, and what's the criteria by which we are going to judge them?''
Hancock tries to answer these questions on his latest album, ``The New Standard'' (Verve), a logical progression for an artist who throughout his career has done a fine balancing act between the jazz and pop worlds. It's surprisingly his first straight-ahead jazz album as a leader since the 1982 ``Quartet'' (Columbia) which introduced a then-unknown young trumpeter named Wynton Marsalis. Although Hancock has played acoustic piano on tour or on other people's records, his more recent recordings have highlighted the pop side of his persona.
``The New Standard'' has been in the top five on Billboards jazz chart for more than 21/2 months. And this summer, Hancock has been touring the United States and Europe, playing selections from the album in a quartet with saxophonist Craig Handy, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Gene Jackson.
The album is the latest fruit of a unique recording contract Hancock signed in 1993 with Polygram as its first multilabel artist. The deal gives him the flexibility to do whatever types of musical projects he wants - pop and R&B for the label's Mercury division, straight-ahead jazz for Verve, and if the urge strikes him, even a larger symphonic work for Deutsche Grammophon, Polygram's classical label.
That wouldn't be so far-fetched. A child prodigy, Hancock performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony at age 11, but turned to jazz in high school.
Hancock's 1994 debut for Polygram - after a nearly seven-year break from recording as a leader - was ``Dis Is Da Drum'' (Mercury), a dance record with jazz elements fusing West African folk rhythms and hip hop grooves. By way of contrast, ``The New Standard'' is a jazz album with pop elements.
Co-producer Guy Eckstine, who originally suggested the album concept, gave Hancock tapes of about 40 tunes by songwriters the pianist had selected. These were whittled down to the final cut of nine rock, funk, folk and pop tunes from the last three decades.
Arranger Bob Belden, who has done his own jazz recordings of Prince and Sting tunes, helped score the pieces. And Hancock brought in a group of improvisers comfortable with both jazz and pop, including saxophonist Michael Brecker, guitarist John Scofield, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Holland.
On the album, Hancock does what jazz musicians have traditionally done in the past - make jazz versions of popular tunes of the day. Some of the choices are obvious: Lennon & McCartney (``Norwegian Wood''), Simon & Garfunkel (``Scarborough Fair'') and Stevie Wonder (``You've Got It Bad Girl''). Others are less obvious: Prince (``Thieves in the Temple''), Don Henley (``New York Minute'') and grunger Kurt Cobain (``All Apologies'').
``The pop tunes gave me a challenge,'' said Hancock, dressed in his characteristic black during an interview at a New York hotel. ``I decided to restructure the tunes and make them sound like they were originally written to be jazz tunes.
``I'm not the first person to do jazz versions of pop tunes, but what I did is very different,'' he said, staring intently from behind his rimless, oval-shaped glasses. ``I wasn't trying to pay any attention to what the composers may have had in mind or the original versions of these songs. I was really trying to personalize them and put them more into my jazz style.''
``Scarborough Fair,'' in its original version a waltz in 3-4 time, is played here in straight-ahead 4/-4 swing time, opening with a lyrical Hancock solo and ending as a vigorous boogie. On ``Norwegian Wood,'' Hancock kept the waltz beat, but changed the chords and keys from the original. Peter Gabriel's ``Mercy Street'' has a Latin flavor, while ``Thieves in the Temple'' has a jabbing piano reminiscent of such early Hancock hits as ``Watermelon Man.''
But Hancock says the biggest challenge was reworking Cobain's ``All Apologies.'' He threw out a more complicated bebop-like version, and instead opted for a simpler approach - a slow, bluesy style, highlighted by Scofield's accompaniment on electric sitar.
This is the first of his albums on which Hancock did not write or co-write nearly all the tunes. Only one of the 10 tracks is a Hancock original - the plaintive closing solo piano piece ``Manhattan (Island of Light and Love)'' that he wrote with his sister, Jean, in the early 1960s but had never previously recorded. He had forgotten about the piece until he was reminded of it by his one-time mentor, trumpeter Donald Byrd, when they taped a TV show together last year.
It was Byrd who discovered the pianist in Chicago, brought him to New York in 1961 to play with his band, got him his first recording contract, and introduced him to Miles Davis.
His auspicious debut album, ``Takin' Off,'' featured the funky ``Watermelon Man,'' which became a big hit for Mongo Santamaria and was a harbinger of Hancock's future crossover success. Throughout the 1960s, Hancock recorded a series of classic sessions for Blue Note with compositions that became jazz standards such as ``Maiden Voyage'' and ``Dolphin Dance.''
In early 1963, Hancock joined Davis' quintet and became part of one of the greatest groups in modern jazz - with saxophonist Wayne Shorter, drummer Tony Williams and bassist Ron Carter.
Hancock says that one of the most valuable lessons Davis taught him was to have the courage of one's convictions.
``Miles continued to challenge himself and encouraged the sidemen in the band to work on new, challenging things all the time, and not to be worried about playing perfect,'' Hancock said. ``And as the band evolved from material that was more melodic in a traditional sense to an approach that in many cases was more influenced by the avant-garde, Miles just plowed into it and didn't bat an eyelid.
``Miles has always been that kind of person to stand up for what he believes in. And that spirit is something that I certainly hold dear to my heart as an invaluable tool for progress in music and in my life, too.''
After leaving Davis in 1968, Hancock formed his own groups featuring electric instruments and funky rhythms. His 1973 album ``Headhunters'' - with the hit single ``Chameleon'' - became the best-selling jazz album in history. And he enjoyed another chart-topping hit with the dance and soul single ``Rockit'' from the 1983 album ``Future Shock.''
But despite his crossover success, Hancock maintained his jazz bona fides. In the late 1970s, he performed acoustic piano duets with Chick Corea, and he reunited with his former Miles Davis bandmates in the VSOP quintet with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet. There was also an Academy Award in 1987 for his jazz soundtrack to the film ``Round Midnight.''
In 1982, Hancock took Marsalis, who had been introduced to the jazz world by Art Blakey, on a world tour and also produced the trumpeter's debut album. But their musical paths have since diverged. Ironically, it's Hancock the older musician who has embraced hip hop influences and the latest in technology, while the younger Marsalis has upheld a more purist approach shunning electronic instruments or pop influences.
Hancock, who majored in electrical engineering as well as music composition at Grinnell College in Iowa, is completely at ease with cutting-edge technology. His home in the Hollywood Hills, where he lives with his wife, Gigi, is full of the latest cybertech that he uses to plug into the Internet and produce his multimedia projects.
Hancock is working with the company Graphics Zone on a music-based CD-ROM that combines 20th-century U.S. history with the history of jazz. He also has ideas for interactive CDs that would allow the listener to change the tempo or melody of a song. And he is in the process of establishing his Rhythm of Life Foundation to develop software that he hopes will ``more directly affect the advancement of humanity and the quality of life,'' helping young people develop a greater sense of responsibility.
As a musician who's acquired almost legendary status, Hancock feels a certain commitment to the next generation.
``I don't look at myself as a legend, but maybe as an elder statesman,'' he said. ``I feel the responsibility to encourage creativity, particularly with young musicians who are coming up, to encourage them, just like Miles encouraged us, to really reach for the best that you can find. Reach for the stars.''
LENGTH: Long : 156 linesby CNB