Herbie Hancock is one of those living jazz greats whose compositions, whenever we catch them — perhaps playing in the background in a restaurant or bar, or overheard on the radio, — are familiar to most of us, even those who have no idea who the man behind them is. He has written a slew of jazz standards (“Watermelon Man,” “Cantaloupe Island,” “Maiden Voyage,” and many others), composed for films (he received the Academy Award for “Round Midnight” in 1986), was the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University in 2014 (see below), and has been a significant influence and experimental jazz “rule-breaker” for decades. It’s been an honor for many great performers to share the stage with him (one can see this, for example, in his 2010 “Imagine Project” album and live performance — again, see below).
The funky phrasing that comes out of that Roland is such a joy, one can really begin to hear the voice, shrāvaka.