The Herbie Hancock Quartet
Herbie Hancock — acoustic piano
Terri Lyn Carrington — drums
Gary Thomas — tenor sax and flute
Scott Colley — bass
When: 8 p.m., tuesday, nov. 12
Where: Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
How Much: $25/$35

Herbie Hancock used to make me do the worm.

I had just reached the pubescent threshold with my thirteenth birthday, and one of my friends had gotten me Hancock’s album “Future Shock.” All the cool kids knew “Rockit”, the hip track that introduced record scratching to the mainstream. It was also the era of break dancing, and we kids did our clumsy interpretations with “Rockit” soaring in the background. The song became the defining moment of 1984, and Hancock was awarded the Grammy for best R&B instrumental performance and MTV gave him 5 awards for best concept video. This mattered little to me at that age. As far as I was concerned, Hancock was a flash in the pan. His chic would wear off and other one-hit wonders like Dexy’s Midnight Riders would corral my attention.

I didn’t come to grips with my naivety until college, where new experimental music seeped out of every bar, humming student and speaker. I had just been introduced to the Headhunters and of course my initial reaction/ question was “Isn’t that the guy who did ‘Rockit’?” The veterans disgustingly shook their heads and introduced me to classics like “Chameleon,” “Butterfly” and “Watermelon Man.” This introduction led me to some of Herbie’s other peers like Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter and the stoic Miles Davis. My interest grew, and soon I had all his album stints with the Miles Davis Quintet, which many purists believe to be the greatest jazz ensemble ever organized.

Hancock was not just an electrical keyboard madman, but he also was quite the genius on acoustic. He was two years younger than my break dancing age when he played a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He released his debut album, “Takin’ Off” (in 1963 on Blue Note) at the age of 22. Blue Note’s co-founder, Alfred Lions, was so impressed by Hancock’s compositional skills that he told the youngster to focus solely on originals. “Takin’ Off” became the first album in Blue Note’s history to be entirely original compositions.

Many of Hancock’s compositions are complex and smack of genius. A first assumption would say that most of his compositions came from hours of grand divination (or a quick meeting at the crossroads). Not so with all of them. The title track to Hancock’s masterpiece, “Maiden Voyage,” was originally a jingle for Yardley’s Men’s Cologne; and “Watermelon Man” (which became a classic on “Takin’ Off” and later on “Headhunters”) was inspired by Hancock’s childhood memories of a man singing a jingle while selling watermelons.

His constant need for transformation led to Buddhism in the late 60’s and his religious introspection led him to form diverse groups like Mwandishi, The Headhunters, and the V.S.O.P. (a reunification of the 60s Miles Davis Quintet, substituting the great Freddie Hubbard for Davis). Hancock always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else, but somehow, his music didn’t go over the head of his growing throng of listeners. “Headhunters” became the first platinum album in jazz history and crowds responded by massing to stadium size. By the mid-70s, Hancock had no fewer than four albums in the pop charts.

His popularity spilled over into TV and movies where he did compositions for the cartoon Fat Albert (found on the funk drenched, “Fat Albert Rotunda”) as well as picking up an Oscar for his 1987 original composition for the movie, “Round Midnight”.

Hancock didn’t even flinch in the musical marsh of the 80s. “Rockit” proved he could take the sounds of the day and manifest it into innovation. His follow-up album, “Sound System,” won another Grammy for best R&B instrumental album. The 80s also saw Herbie moving towards cultural educator. He hosted Rock School, an inventive educational music show for PBS, as well as Showtime’s Coast To Coast, a distinctive series of in-concert performances, interviews and collaborations.

These forays of imprinting with a voice rather than a piano led him to found the Rhythm of Life Foundation in 1996. The purpose is dual — (quoted from the website) — “to help narrow the gap between those technologically empowered and those who are not; and to find ways to help technology improve humanity. The philosophy of the foundation is based on the communication of multi-cultural awareness and tolerance among communities, instilling a sense of courage and creative initiative in children, and educating one another about our rich and complex ethnic heritage.” Hancock believes that the future will rely on the “have-nots” — individuals who don’t have access to the technology, but may provide keen insight to the “haves.”

He also serves on the board of trustees for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, a center devoted to developing jazz prodigies. Hancock has become a jack-of-all-trades at the institute, serving as a competition judge, master class teacher, and performer.

But if he is to be called a musician, then there must be a realization that he is a musician boiled down to its purest form. He constantly tinkers and uses modern technology to create an art form that any human can relate to. His “Future 2 Future” album and subsequent tour in 2001 was the latest in transforming machines into something that has a heart pulsing underneath.

And he continues to innovate and please. On Oct. 1 the Herbie Hancock Box Set was released. Highlights include acoustic material from 1976-1981, which was only available (before now) in Japan. He also has released “Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall”(Verve Records). The live album is crafted from a performance in Toronto with fellow musicians Roy Hargrove and Michael Brecker. The trio had toured together to celebrate the music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Hancock’s eight Grammy wins, along with one Oscar and an armada of other awards have planted him firmly in the American conscious. But what he has done with that popularity is epic. He has transformed music into a pulsing think tank that furthers any individual that puts an ear to Hancock’s compositions. Which brings me back to “Rockit.” Herbie was able to connect with me at 13, when my ears were still on training wheels with the likes of Huey Lewis and Chaka Khan. That’s the beauty of it. Herbie is our country’s bloodstream. His sounds are the rhythm of our lives, and as we mature, his sounds mature with us.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling like a jittery schoolchild with a bellyful of butterflies when I interviewed the esteemed cultural ambassador/musician/teacher. Thirty minutes went like a dandelion in a hurricane, but it was full of insight into how music can be the answer to the future.

SMN: What does Asheville have in store with the Quartet?

HH: This is an acoustic quartet. We won’t be promoting any sort of music, these are just year-end gigs I’ve lined up. We’re going to play new arrangements of some of my older material and combine them with arrangements of newer pieces. We’re going to take arrangement of one piece and combine it with elements of another piece.

SMN: Let’s talk about some of your new releases, starting with the Herbie Box.

HH: The design is pretty spectacular. The box is transparent and shaped like a cube. Trying to figure out how to open it is very interesting. There are three U-shaped sides, and the only way to open it is to pull them apart. It’s kind of like a puzzle. The way the selection was conceived was to represent my acoustic and my electric stuff. The box is a collaboration between Sony and my label, Transparent Music. Chuck Mitchell (who’s also my partner on the label, Transparent Music) interviewed me over several days about the people involved on the records, about different recordings, and different comments I had about the material — what I was thinking about when I composed this or that, how this or that was put together and what did I think about it. We also wanted to represent material that influenced others.

SMN: How about ‘Directions in Music: Live At Massey Hall’?

HH: It was to celebrate the 75th birthdays of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. They were actually only two months apart in age and they were born in the same year and they were such seminal influences on the jazz scene. The agent that Michael Brecker and I usually work with gave us this attractive concept for a tour. What we decided to do was not do the expected. Everybody expected to hear the familiar arrangements of Coltrane and material associated with Miles, and we decided not to do that. They would not have wanted us to play the old arrangements because they never played the original way that material was introduced to them. They always created a whole new vision on the pieces. For example, ‘My Favorite Things’ (which was originally from the ‘Sound of Music’), was redone on Coltrane’s album, ‘My Favorite Things.’ It was very different from the way they did it on the ‘Sound of Music.’ That was a good example of how both those musicians would take material and put their personal spin on it.

We decided to do the same thing with material associated with Miles and John Coltrane and put our own spin on it. Not only was it challenging for us the musicians, but it was also an interesting surprise for the audience. People loved it. We toured originally for four or five weeks and we almost sold out every place. The response we got was really tremendous. People were real surprised how we treated the music and they were really appreciative that we gave them a new experience.

SMN: You also have the “Future to Future” DVD. How is it different from other musical DVDs?

HH: It’s coming out in November. One thing is that the music and the arrangements were designed for surround sound. When we toured (before the DVD) we used surround sound from day one. Our approach to doing the DVD was very much influenced from how we did the live tour. On our tour we had two engineers, one who did the normal stereo stuff in front of the house and another who did the surround sound. When we did the DVD, the second engineer was also involved with the surround sound on the DVD. He worked alongside Leslie Anne Jones (daughter of vaudeville musician Spike Jones), who is one of the most respected engineers in the business.

SMN: One of the innovations you used on that tour was Emersive Mixing...

HH: Surround can be treated in one way as half the primary sounds coming from the stage and putting some echo or delayed sounds in the rear or on the sides. Emersive mixing is treating the audience like they’re in the middle of the band.

SMN: Was it hard to be improvisational with this kind of music?

HH: It was hard to figure out how to do the record on the live tour, because the record itself is intuitively conceived and produced. Bill Laswell [whom Hancock first teamed up with on “Rockit”], the record producer, likes to prepare certain things first. Then he will play these things for me. But this time, when he played them for me, I was hearing them for the first time. I would be in the studio, with the record light on, with a keyboard in front of me, responding for the first time. I was listening and reacting to what I was hearing, and that’s what went on the record. Then he would edit what we just did and I would go back and listen to some of those things and I would respond to his editing. Then he would record those responses. A lot of spontaneity went into recording that record, meaning he could have used the same approach, and each time it would have been completely different. On the tour, we pondered how do we make certain songs sound like they do on the record when a lot of the things people hear on the record were not composed but improvised.

SMN: With your insistence on furthering art through technology, how do you keep it an art form when you’re using equipment that some may see as being out of touch with humanity?

HH: The only instrument that’s not out of touch with humanity is the human voice. Everything else is some kind of device, whether it’s the piano or a violin or a synthesizer. How you use it determines whether you’re going to be out of touch with humanity or not. The devices don’t do anything, it’s how you manipulate them. You’ve got to turn them on first. It’s all up to the human being that’s controlling it. The important thing is if you’re going to make music for humanity, you keep the idea of humanity at the foundation of your thinking. Keep the idea of creating something that’s encouraging or inspiring to people; that triggers some certain feeling or responses.

SMN: Why is it important to have the ‘have nots’ in technology?

HH: Because the ‘haves’ have not done that great a job (laughs) with how the planet has been shaped so far. And maybe it’s the ‘have nots’ who have some of the answers that the rest of us need. But how can we get the answers if we don’t have access to them? Especially since they don’t have the technology access to be able to share what they can bring to the table.

SMN: Why is it important to have places like the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz?

HH: Jazz is a music that demonstrates some of the best characteristics of the human spirit. Jazz is about sharing, rather than competition. It’s about trusting in your own instincts, and the instincts of others. It’s also about being in the moment and responding to the moment. It’s about being able to step outside the comfort zone and exploring territory you may not know. There’re several characteristics of jazz that are applicable to life. It’s expressing what one feels. It’s a great outlet for creativity and it’s a great release for human emotions.

SMN: Do you think jazz is in a good state for the 21st century?

HH: Jazz is constantly evolving and there are people who are continuing to advance the state of jazz.

SMN: Do you believe your company, Transparent Music, which you formed in 1999, fits into this idea?

HH: It very well can. It has many of the same goals that are in the spirit of jazz even though it’s not a label that has limited itself to jazz. Like jazz, the idea of wanting to reach for the highest quality is the spirit of Transparent Music. The reason it’s called Transparent is because we want to stay in the background, but what we want in the foreground is the music and to promote the development of the artist.

SMN: Your family was not that musically inclined. Where did all this musical proclivity come from?

HH: My father sang in church with the choir and took piano lessons as a kid. But that was never his main pursuit. My father thinks that my musical leanings may have come from my uncle Jack. Jack was around during the turn of the century. During the early days of jazz, Dad told me that no matter what he heard, Jack could play it — classical or jazz.

SMN: Did you pretty much push yourself to get on stage at 11 and perform a Mozart concerto?

HH: I started taking classical piano lessons at 7. That’s what was taught, there was no such thing as learning jazz back then. The only thing I listened to was classical and rhythm and blues. There was a contest that they do every year in Chicago. It was a young people’s concert series and you would audition for your particular instrument. If you were selected as the winner for your instrument you got a chance to play the auditioned concerto with the symphony. I won for the piano.

SMN: How must music be defined in the 21st century and what is its ultimate responsibility?

HH: Music’s ultimate responsibility is to serve humanity. It has to be a catalyst to encourage a betterment of our future. If it does what it’s supposed to, inspiration will emerge from the lives of the listeners.