Herbie Hancock

Last night Herbie Hancock played at Bovard Auditorium. I'd been planning on going for weeks, but didn't get tickets because I was afraid I was going to need to rehearse and/or shoot. By the time I knew I wasn't, it was so close to the day, I decided I'd just try to buy tickets at the door. So I'm running way late and mosy up to Bovard, noticing the big RV that brought all the equipment and performers to the show parked behind the building. I walk around and see a back door, open it, follow some folks walking in...walk down hallway, open a door and BLAM - I'm in the auditorium full of well dressed students and jazz aficionados listening to the end of the warm up act.

An usher says, "would you like this seat near the aisle?" To which, I nod, "Sure, I suppose," and I sit guiltily thinking she's going to come down later and ask for my ticket. Minutes pass, the set wraps, a brief intermission, and I realize I'm home free.

Herbie comes on with Roy Hargrove and Michael Brecker, the two celebrated horns (I guess Brecker is technically a reed instrument, but whatever) and they start their set.

It was alright. Jazz, to me, for all it's roots in improvisation and so forth is nowadays a little stuffy and formal. The audience sits, unmoving, listening to the finest of fine sound systems exporting music from the most technically gifted musicians on the planet. It's like watching a very well crafted film - like the English Patient. What I miss, and I'm not sure if it was ever truly like this, is Bird or Miles or Coltrane playing deep into the night in a dark club with whisky and smoke and a shitty sound system and just blowing their souls all over the crowd. But I imagine there was always a rigidity to jazz that I don't imagine, standards, and so forth.

The tunes they played were solid, but boring, my favorite parts were little riffs from Coltrane by Brecker, I recognized a few popular little elements that sounded like Love Supreme and Blue Note - but maybe I was just hearing things.

My favorite part of the show was when Brecker came onto the stage by himself to show off his EWI, which was an electronic synthesizing wind instrument. He could blow notes that would loop and then overlay more notes. He played some funky tunes and was bouncing all around the stage. After that, the encore was improvised for the most part, and the second most enjoyable part of the show.