Rick Astley released the 50 album on June 10, 2016. Happy 10th anniversary to 50!

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Garbage released the Strange Little Birds album on June 10, 2016. Happy 10th anniversary to Strange Little Birds!

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Roxette released the Good Karma album on June 3, 2016. Happy 10th anniversary to Good Karma!

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Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling!" hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 28, 2016.

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Herbie Hancock Plays “The Song Goes On”

Listen to this track by jazz innovator, keyboard wizard, and all-around musical boundary-pusher Herbie Hancock. It’s “The Song Goes On”, the final track on his 2010 concept record The Imagine Project. That record boasts a cavalcade of musical talent from all over the world in addition to Hancock’s own prowess as a player and musical director. There are so many musical luminaries that you’ve heard of on the record that it would take too long to list them here. It seems that the received wisdom when Herbie Hancock calls is that you pick up the phone and say yes.

With as many guest artists that appear on the album, the music is rooted in Hancock’s keyboards and the contributions of his core of musicians. This includes bassist and co-producer Larry Klein, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, guitarist Lionel Loueke, and percussionist Alex Acuña. These musicians establish a solid jazz foundation for each track on the record to support a range of musical guests and their styles. Among other things, this illustrates how resilient jazz has become as a base ingredient and catalyst for musical exploration and expression that’s inclusive of other musical genres.

The central concept for The Imagine Project is about connecting humanity’s drive toward artistic expression and collaboration and how all that connects with the concept of achieving world peace. Much like Hancock’s general approach to making music, the celebrated figures who appear on the record come from a wide spectrum of musical traditions and categories, communicating the multifaceted nature of music made all over the world. They hail from nearly every corner of the globe to help Hancock showcase what’s common between people and their cultures across oceans and continents through their music, with a vision for human-centric globalization as a goal.

The song selection on the record reflects these themes of peace, transcendence, and positive change centering mainly on interpretations of some well-known Western pop songs. “The Song Goes On” is an exception, with music written by Larry Klein and with words based on a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926). Pop soul vocalist Chaka Khan sings the English lyrics translated from the German while South Indian singer K.S. Chithra to sings in Hindi. Renowned sitarist Anoushka Shankar and Hancock’s fellow Miles Davis Quintet alum Wayne Shorter on soprano saxophone support the tune instrumentally while Hancock himself interjects minimalist phrases on the piano.

Shankar and Shorter are almost supernaturally in sync with each other’s phrasing on this cut. The timbre of their respective instruments turn out to have such an affinity that it is easy to mistake where one ends and the other begins, if that even occurs to anyone to try. Rhythmically, “The Song Goes On” is suspended in a drone-like tension that keeps the music teetering on a precipice as if it’s in a single and extended moment in time. That’s deliberate, with this tune being about an eternal song that goes on even if the tension in the moment is the focus. That’s where we live as people in the short span of our lives – from moment to moment.

This concept informed Hancock’s approach as a musician even when he was coming up as a young protege in the early 1960s. His apprenticeship at the feet of Donald Byrd and then Miles Davis taught him valuable lessons about being in the moment, and of maintaining awareness of what’s happening as the music unfolds between musicians; that each musical phrase or rhythmic pulse that emerges during a live performance or a take in the studio can be a force to shift the whole sound. The music defines itself between the musicians who create it together in a kind of mobius strip; prompted to follow where it leads, but also with the agency to change its direction, too.

By the time he cut “The Song Goes On” and the record it comes from, Hancock’s attitude remained consistent when it came to what being in the moment with other musicians. An an interview conducted around the time of the album’s release, he explains what collaboration is all about for him:

“I try to be a real collaborator. The result of the collaboration is more important than the individual collaborators. When all is said and done there’s this piece on the record. When you listen to it, you listen to the whole thing, not just the piano player. The most important thing about a record like this is, what the record is about, what it says, what it demonstrates. There’s a certain behaviour on the record and it’s a behaviour of sharing, that’s what is important.”

~ Herbie Hancock, London Jazz News, August 2, 2010 (read the whole article)

In a sense, this is one of the definitive attributes of jazz, which is about finding what’s common in the midst of differences, and creating something out of that ratio in the moment. No matter what traditions or genres are applicable, music itself is an act of sharing between musicians and then between them and the listener. It’s about trust, generosity, and inclusion. As it turns out, that’s not a bad model for redefining civilization either with cultural diversity and varied perspectives informing the whole to make the world a reflection of all humanity; recognizable, multifaceted, and built to anticipate change as needed even as it preserves what’s common and good for everyone.

After a forging a career that spans seven decades by now, Herbie Hancock is an active performer and composer today. You can learn more about him, explore his discography, and his more recent projects at herbiehancock.com.

The Imagine Project was a very ambitious undertaking, with sessions and contributions from musicians across multiple countries and continents. To get a full sense of that and the impressive range of talent that made it what it is, there’s also a documentary on how Hancock made the record. You can watch the extended trailer for that film right here.

For more on Herbie Hancock’s career from the 1960s to this very album, check out this Herbie Hancock top ten article on toppermost.co.uk, also written by your humble host.

Enjoy!

Drake featuring Wizkid and Kyla's "One Dance" hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 21, 2016 and spent 10 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the chart.

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Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 21, 2011 and spent seven weeks at the top of the chart.

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Desiigner's "Panda" hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 7, 2016 and spent two weeks at the top of the chart.

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Professor Elemental - Fighting Trousers [2010]

https://ani.social/post/31058742