Concert Review: Esplanade Presents: Herbie Hancock

Musical polymath Herbie Hancock proves during his concert on 9 Sep that at age 74, he is still a force to be reckoned with.

By Ruth Smalley

Jazz legend: Herbie Hancock plays one of his mesmerizing solos with gusto .
PHOTO: ESPLANADE

Esplanade Presents: Herbie Hancock

9 Sep
Esplanade Concert Hall

From jazz to electronic, the Esplanade concert hall was filled with a myriad of music genres on 9 Sep. Only Herbie Hancock, music icon and 14-time Grammy Award-winning jazz legend could have pulled off such a dizzying display of different genres in one night. Manically tinkering with his keyboards and synthesizers, the 74-year-old created luxurious sounds that reverberated around the sold-out venue.

Performing in Singapore for the first time, the concert took off with a roaring start when Hancock played the jazz-funk single Actual Proof from his 1974 album, Thrust.

Basking in the adulation of the audience, Hancock performed with gusto, especially during songs such as 1983’s Rockit. Strutting back on stage bearing a keytar (a combination of keyboard and guitar), he jammed the number wildly alongside lead guitarist Lionel Loueke and bassist James Genus, proving that the keyboard was far from a static instrument.

With his dexterous manipulation of a synthesizer, Hancock also created hauntingly beautiful soundscapes. He even used a vocoder, and jokingly explained that this ‘wearable technology’ enables people who are not natural born singers to sound like professionals.

Hancock wore this device for the song Come Running to Me, to recreate his signature futuristic sound, as the vocoder allowed him to loop his voice and create layers of harmonies that echoed through the audience, transporting them to another worldly dimension.

Hancock then played his seminal piece, Watermelon Man, bringing the audience back to the swinging ‘60s. This classic jazz standard was mashed up with the song Seventeens — the latter composed by lead guitarist Lionel Loueke. As Hancock put it, this number was “very difficult to dance to”.

Despite that, the audience still managed to groove to the syncopated beats. It’s amazing to think that at his age, Hancock is still innovating music and creating refreshing sounds that captivate.

Almost immediately after the song, Loueke performed an original composition in traditional Beninese language. The West African guitarist stole the audience’s hearts and roused them into singing along when he incorporated the word ‘Singapore’ into the chorus of his song.

And indeed, many musicians on stage were legends in their own right. Versatile American jazz bassist Genus currently plays in the Saturday Night Live band on NBC channel; guitarist Loueke had played alongside greats such as Sting and Santana; drummer Colaiuta had toured with the likes of Frank Zappa and Jeff Beck.

Of course, at the nerve centre of this dynamic quartet was Herbie Hancock, seated at the side of the stage and surrounded by a holy trinity of his two keyboards and a grand piano when he was not jamming with the rest of the band.

The band also spent 25 minutes — not excessive in the world of jazz — on an introduction for the immortal song Cantaloupe Island. It was utterly mesmerising, as the instruments seemed to be conversing with each another on stage.

Hancock’s artful expressions on the piano were answered by Colaiuta’s high octane drumming. Subsequently, Loueke’s understated strumming of his electric guitar soared above Genus’ mellow bass lines. Then, almost as though they had perfected the art of telepathy, all musicians appeared onstage at precisely the same moment to begin the song.

The night’s display of music was the art form at its finest. The concert was truly a night of escapism as eclectic sounds transported the audience back to halcyon days, and reminded them of how wonderful that bygone era was.