"If music is a series of sounds that invite a listener to partake of the mysteries inherent in its melodies, rhythms and harmonies, then what are we to make of Herbie  Hancock, whose music has been enchanting people for over half a century and is also one of the most straight-ahead, nice guys you'd ever want to meet?  He doesn't wave a wand to make the magic happen; instead, he leads bands into new areas where audiences can follow, because, hey, why not?  Our bodies start moving to a tune like "Ostinato" whether or not our brains ever figure out its main riff is in 15/4.  And he's still going strong, appearing at the Hollywood Bowl with Wayne Shorter and others a few weeks after I write this in the summer of 2016.

Cut to the Lighthouse, late 1972.  After a buoyant, ear-stretching set from the Mwandishi band, Lee Kaplan and I approached Hancock about doing an interview.  Both of us had been placing reviews in local music mags for the previous couple of years but neither had tackled a major project like this.  Did Herbie refer us to his manager, perhaps, or tell us to contact the publicists at his new record label, Columbia?  Nope.  He invited us over to his house the next weekend and spent two hours going over compositional strategies, production techniques, and his use of the latest keyboard instruments, as well as gently pointing out some of our naive preconceptions...."

Michael Davis
Los Angeles, 2016

theothermichaeldavis.com

Herbie Hancock Interview with Michael Davis

ARP Synth - Herbie Hancock: an Interview with The Other Michael Davis

"If music is a series of sounds that invite a listener to partake of the mysteries inherent in its melodies, rhythms and harmonies, then what are we to make of Herbie  Hancock, whose music has been enchanting people for over half a century and is also one of the most straight-ahead, nice guys you'd ever want to meet?  He doesn't wave a wand to make the magic happen; instead, he leads bands into new areas where audiences can follow, because, hey, why not?  Our bodies start moving to a tune like "Ostinato" whether or not our brains ever figure out its main riff is in 15/4.  And he's still going strong, appearing at the Hollywood Bowl with Wayne Shorter and others a few weeks after I write this in the summer of 2016.
   Cut to the Lighthouse, late 1972.  After a buoyant, ear-stretching set from the Mwandishi band, Lee Kaplan and I approached Hancock about doing an interview.  Both of us had been placing reviews in local music mags for the previous couple of years but neither had tackled a major project like this.  Did Herbie refer us to his manager, perhaps, or tell us to contact the publicists at his new record label, Columbia?  Nope.  He invited us over to his house the next weekend and spent two hours going over compositional strategies, production techniques, and his use of the latest keyboard instruments, as well as gently pointing out some of our naive preconceptions...."

Michael Davis
Los Angeles, 2016

theothermichaeldavis.com