The timing of my conversion to jazz couldn’t be better with living legend Herbie Hancock set to light up stages across Australia and New Zealand this month.
It’s the jazz icon’s first visit since 2019 – and tickets are selling like hotcakes. The promoters have just announced a third and final show for Sydney following two sold out Sydney Opera House Concert Hall events. The new date is October 16 at City Recital Hall, Sydney.
After a couple of shows across the ditch he starts his Australian tour in Sydney on October 11 and also plays Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. I’m told there are still tickets available, but you better hurry.
I’m not sure if it’s his last Aussie tour as Hancock is 84, so now might be the time to see him if you haven’t. I’m one of those who haven’t and although I’ve always enjoyed jazz it’s only in the last year that I have gone from occasional fan to devotee – and Herbie Hancock has a bit to do with that.
So does Woody Allen. It was watching (and listening to) his 2023 movie Coup de Chance that did it for me. Allen is a big jazz fan and his movies feature jazz soundtracks, but this one is a particular killer with Nat Adderley’s version of the Hancock classic Cantaloupe Island as a standout. Hancock also turns up on another version of that track in the movie, which is littered with great jazz tunes.
The first thing I did after the movie was buy a CD (yes, I still buy CDs) of the album Cantaloupe Island. If it’s not the perfect jazz album I’m not sure what is. Ok, Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme are up there too.
But Cantaloupe Island is my favourite so far. I’m hoping Hancock might play the title track in his show. I quickly bought another album, My Point of View, and both are on high rotation in our household. I intend to build my Herbie Hancock collection from here and it may be a big collection considering there are 41 studio albums, 12 live albums, 62 compilation albums and five soundtrack albums.
With a career spanning seven decades and a staggering 14 Grammy awards, few artists have had more influence on modern music than Hancock. The creative force behind timeless classics such as Cantaloupe Island, Chameleon and Rockit, Hancock’s genre-transcending appeal and unmistakable style have cemented his status as “today’s greatest living artist”, according to The Washington Post.
As the immortal Miles Davis said in his autobiography: “Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven’t heard anybody yet who has come after him.”
Hancock has transcended limitations and genres while maintaining his unmistakable voice, amazing audiences across the globe. In an interview with the ABC, Hancock described living in the 21st century and its innovations in music technology as both “being in heaven” and one of the most “difficult times the world has had to face”.
Get InReview in your inbox – free each Saturday. Local arts and culture – covered.
Thanks for signing up to the InReview newsletter.
“In America and in many countries of the world … there’s a lot of issues that we have to deal with,” he told the national broadcaster. “But I’m so happy that I’m a Buddhist and one of the things we believe is that it’s possible to turn poison into medicine.
“The art of music is that you’re playing and creating something new right in front of the audience, right in the moment, so that’s one of the reasons why I love this art. I think that’s why a lot of people are attracted to the music, because it’s in the moment.”
And I intend to be in that moment too with thousands of other jazz fans during Herbie Hancock’s Australian tour.
Herbie Hancock plays QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane, October 17, and Festival Theatre, Adelaide, October 20.
Support local arts journalism
Your support will help us continue the important work of InReview in publishing free professional journalism that celebrates, interrogates and amplifies arts and culture in South Australia.
Donate Here
