Metropolitan Park
Jacksonville, FL
April 9,2006

When Herbie Hancock walked onstage at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, we had no idea what was coming. Riding the charts with a CD that features collaborations with well-known vocalists he could give us some hits. As the creator of contemporary jazz classics he could give us that, or hit us with the hits like "Headhunters" and "Rockit." What nobody could have expected was a musical experience that was both transcendent and impossible to define. It left the crowd hushed and completely in awe.

He brought gifts. Although he is preparing to tour with a different band, this one time performance featured Marcus Miller on bass, Terri Lyne Carrington on drums and West African guitarist Lionel Loueke. Most of the songs in the set were familiar to Hancock's longtime fans, a few were new or less well-known. None were just played out start to finish. The entire set became a song cycle with peaks and valleys and segments that progressed from meditative to highly experimental to highly structured.

Miller and Carrington's presence always takes the music to another level. The surprise was Loueke. Highly regarded in jazz and progressive circles he has not had much exposure beyond that. He is a virtuoso and a complete original, using his guitar and voice for percussive effects, sustained notes and a variety of sounds that ricocheted across the stage and out of the speakers.

"Cantaloupe Island," the Hancock standard, opened the performance and ended with complete quiet as Loueke, completely dressed in white, began an extended a capella chant that was so engaging that the yappers stopped yapping, the fidgeters stopped fidgeting and the entire park became hushed and meditative. The spotlight shifted to Marcus Miller for "Tutu", the title song from his 1986 collaboration with Miles Davis. During this contemporary jazz master class everybody did extended solos, but nobody was in your face or over the top. Maybe when you reach that level and are playing with other world class musicians it isn't necessary. Carrington's drum solo was the cleanest and tightest I've heard and Miller, who is everybody's "bass god" was finding that one note that made the big statement instead of engaging in showy licks. That was a little shocking at first because at first the crew I was with, all longtime fans, wanted an in-your-face solo. Watching and listening was lesson in “less is more.”

"Thrust" was louder and even more edgy, then "Headhunters" brought the music back to a familiar place. An artist like Hancock was not going to just play the hit on autopilot though. He used the familiar melody as a framework for variation and improvisation from his stellar group of musicians. Through it all Hancock sat behind his keyboards like the center of the storm, playing, grinning and nodding encouragement as he let his musicians stretch out and play. Loueke, on the side of the stage, sustained the mood with vocalese and chant processed through multiple electronic effects. The sounds were the other thread of continuity. The music was punctuated with indescribable sounds. Notes, noises, and effects that would have jarred listeners out of complacency if there was any way to even become complacent during this musical experience. It was edgy, challenging and completely gratifying and you know what...everybody loved it. Solos were applauded enthusiastically; they got multiple standing ovations. During the quiet moments you could hear nothing but music and a few seagulls on a flyby. So why does anyone say we have to be spoon-fed the over familiar, or that "regular people" aren't capable of understanding or enjoying adventurous music. The park was full and the crowd of all ages and colors was transported and amazed.

Walking toward the exit after the performance I ran into an old friend who used to produce the festival and was responsible for bringing Miles Davis in 1986. I told him I had no idea how I was going to put what I had just heard into words. He said "just say you saw a brilliant man just get up onstage, play what his heart led him to play, and had a damn good time doing it!" So that's what I'll say. Except to add that we had an equally good time being a part of it.

- Shannon West