Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock performs during a concert, part of the 10th edition of the Panama Jazz Festival, in Panama City on Jan. 16, 2013.
(Arnulfo Franco/The Associated Press)
Jazz is something of a trust exercise for listeners, especially in a live setting. Once you take the leap of faith with a player or group, you have to believe that no matter how far afield they take you via solos and deconstructive instincts, they'll eventually lead you to the solid ground of a familiar melody or rhythmic structure.
That's what makes Herbie Hancock and his band some of the most trustworthy players in the jazz world. As heard Sunday night at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, these four men have a preternatural control over their chosen instruments and an almost telepathic connection to each other. Who better then to follow down a musical rabbit hole?
A great example of this came at the end of the band's main set, a 20-minute excursion that began with a solo piano rendition of the title track to Hancock's 1968 album "Speak Like A Child." By the time the full band veered into view, they were already teasing out the ballad's calming chords with supple, heavily processed lines played by guitarist Lionel Loueke and some wandering percussion grooves from drummer Vinnie Colaiuta.
The song slowly morphed into the watery funk of "Cantaloupe Island," then into Loueke's original "Ife" (from his 2012 album "Heritage"), before jumping back to Latin swing of "Cantaloupe." Through it all, the group rattled off little fireworks displays, with Hancock throwing in elements of boogie-woogie and modern classical into the mix, and bassist James Genus using his quick fingers to work out fluid, expressive solos. By the time they stuck the landing on the song, the crowd of more than 2,000 jazz fans was nearly ecstatic.
The trust that the audience put into the confident hands of Hancock and his band did come at a price. The setlist that the quartet worked within hasn't changed in over a year. And outside of Loueke's contributions the most recent song played was the hip-hop-influenced "Rockit," released back in 1983. For such a talented group with dozens of recordings and compositions under their collective belt, it seemed strange to want to play it so safe.
Still, there was enough happening between the well-worn melodies that kept things fresh. Watching Hancock trade small solos on his keytar with Loueke and Genus during their exploration of the beloved "Watermelon Man" was as fun as it gets. And the bandleader's little joking asides, heard through the electronic voice harmonizer known as a Vocoder, when he screwed something up ("See what happens when you push the wrong button," he said at one point) during the lilting "Come Running To Me" added a nice human element to the synthesized sound.
--Robert Ham, Special to The Oregonian