Music / Herbie Hancock. At Canberra Theatre, October 14. Reviewed by ROB KENNEDY.

A seven decade career, 14 Grammy Awards, countless collaborations with some of the world’s most famous artists, yes, it’s the creative genius, Herbie Hancock.

Through his music, he doesn’t just blend genres; he creates them. Given all of Hancock’s accomplishments over his 84 years, he has consistently worked with top performers in the music industry. His line up for this concert was no different.

Bass player, James Genus, currently plays in the Saturday Night Live Band. Trumpeter Terence Blanchard has written two operas and more than 80 film and television scores. Guitarist Lionel Loueke is described as “one of the most singular, compelling and innovative artists of his and any generation”. And drummer Jaylen Petinaud was nominated for Best Jazz Drummer by Modern Drummer Magazine’s 2024 Readers Poll.

To an enthusiastic and jam-packed Canberra Theatre audience, Hancock unleashed his band with bits and pieces from over the last 50 years. Ambient sounds rumbled from every player, electronic infused noise as it were, by way of an intro. Then softly through the ambience, a trumpet called out, and then they hit the groove button. A smooth, funky combo arrived. Eclectic, almost free, and Herbie running wild on the grand as the trumpeter blew his heart out.

The group’s ease with one another was more than apparent through their style, their sonic communication and relaxed stage presence. In other words, they were super cool.

When Hancock goes into cool-down mode, that’s where he shines, and his voice comes through. His personality, his temperament, it’s all heard in those soft notes. Even though funk and electro is what most know him by, the real Herbie is in the slow, the soft, and sensitive.

After a fun few moments of introducing the band, and several amusing stories about them, they let loose with a piece by a long-time collaborator who passed last year, Wayne Shorter, his Footprints. Its downbeat, middle-smooth voice just oozed class, but it also turned up the heat.

It’s amazing how a tight group like this can swing the mood in the middle of a work. Seemingly from nowhere, free jazz can turn into a beat driven rhythm that makes an audience change their own groove.

A new instrument can do the same thing. When Herbie changed from the grand to the synth, and then back, the music changed with him. Funk, then cool and back again. There’s nothing like live music making to hear what this medium is all about.

The solos came and spoke their language. Their sound unique, not to the instrument but to the player. I’m sure many in the audience wished they could mirror this sound, I was one.

Then under spotlight, soloed, Herbie sang through a synth machine connected to his keyboard and amused himself and the audience. Technology showed how it has changed music. But underneath, a serious message about changing the world so his grandchild has a chance to survive in the future.

After an extended looped bass solo, the Keytar came out. They moved into rock mode with Rockit before closing out the concert with a groovy Spider. This once-in-a-lifetime experience was as good as I hoped it could be.