Good old Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock is 86 years old.

Some time last spring, I notice that he would be playing in Portland, Maine, where I live. It would be a stretch to say I’m a Herbie fan or even a jazz enthusiast — he just seemed to me like a guy who made interesting music. My daughter, who knows much more about music than I do, was definitely a fan. So when I proposed that we could go to the concert together, she was instantly online buying tickets. That concert was last Saturday night, and I sat in the center about 10 rows back from the stage.

My expectations were low. After all, the guy is ancient. He’s had an amazing career, playing with the legends of jazz, breaking ground in ways that traditional players found strange and challenging, and writing lots of movie soundtracks, with only one hit that’s ever charted (watch this video from 43 years ago — it will blow your mind).

But I figured a musician this old would just be going through the motions, surrounding himself with a backup band that would pick up all the slack. Hey, at least I’d have an experience to share with my daughter.

I was so wrong.

What if your prime lasted 70 years?

Herbie Hancock’s band is touring 14 cities in the months of July and August. Portland was his fifth show of the tour.

This concert was the most amazing musical experience I’ve ever had. These guys were insane. Lionel Loueke, the 53-year old guitar player, is by far the most virtuosic guitarist I’ve ever heard — he plays with a speed and versatility that’s inhuman and the only possible response is sit there with your mouth wide open as the notes go straight through your ears to your heart. I thought horn player Terence Blanchard, who’s 64, was going to have a heart attack right on stage; his solos were wild, energetic, and sparkling, taking the audience places they’d never imagined existed (and what lungs!). James Genus, the 60-year old bass player, who’s also in the Saturday Night Live band, underscored the whole ensemble and played noodling solos in an instrument that isn’t typically center stage. And 27-year-old drummer Jaylen Petinaud is clearly some kind of prodigy who drove the whole band forward and occasionally rocked out enough to make my daughter, who’s a drummer the same age, pretty jealous.

But the one who surprised me most was Herbie Hancock himself. There’s no question he’s old. He moves slowly around the stage and speaks haltingly. He got confused about what city he was in (maybe that’s just an joke he makes every night, but given the number of places they’re playing maybe it’s what you’d expect). He held up the set list at one point and said “Yeah, band intros, I’d forget what we’re doing if I didn’t have this piece of paper in front of me.” I believed him.

But once he started playing he just swept the audience up in the enthusiasm and dazzled. He did about half the concert strutting around with a keytar so we could see his insane fingerings — and frankly, the thing is so huge I was surprised he could even lift it, let alone play the crap out of it.

Maybe I’m not sophisticated enough to tell the difference, but it sure seemed to me like I was watching a master at the top of his musical talents.

These guys certainly shined during their solos, but their collaboration was flawless when they were grooving along together and you had no choice but to be swept away. Anyone who thinks music is a young person’s game needs to see this and understand what a bunch of old dudes with high mileage and endlessly long and diverse musical experience can do if you put them on stage together.

At the end of the evening the entire crowd was on its feet. A thousand people, all ages, races, and genders, all shouting and screaming. It was a awesome thing to behold.

On being old

My daughter and I speculated about whether any of these dudes were on drugs. I said, “Yeah, sure, probably Lipitor and Norvasc.” Just like the rest of us senior citizens.

Herbie Hancock is not going win a marathon any time soon. I’m sure he has trouble going up and down stairs, just like I do sometimes. He’s not going to be able to pursue a career as a public speaker at this point, and I doubt he’s ready to take up vibe coding.

But he’s played so much, so long, so creatively, in so many places, and with so many hugely talented people; he played with Miles Davis 63 years ago and during the show we watched he played a piece from his “best friend” Wayne Shorter from that same era. A life dedicated to that level of performance leaves Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hours” story in the dust. Every great performer goes from learning to practicing to just unconscious soaring. But there are levels beyond that, where the pathways in the brain and the muscles are so well connected that you can imagine, improvise, adjust, create, innovate, and amaze without any conscious effort.

One thing I love about Herbie Hancock is that for his whole career he has embraced new technologies and new sounds. He is not a traditionalist — a lot of what he created along the way came from embracing and mastering new tech and folding it into his existing incredible skills, enabling him to produce fascinating sounds and rhythms no one had ever heard before.

I have decided to take inspiration from this man. My objective is to still be creating at a high level when I’m in my 80s.

I will slow down (but not too much, if I can help it). I will forget things (I already do). But I will keep writing and editing until I can no longer tap on the keyboard and see the screen. If there is no reason for Herbie Hancock to stop being creative, why shouldn’t I? If he can master new technologies and expand his output, why can’t I do the same?

Herbie Hancock is a top-ten jazz musician. I am at best perhaps a top-10,000 nonfiction writer. He’ll probably die with his hands on a keyboard. I intend to do the same. Why not? Why the hell not? I may slow down a little, but I ain’t stopping until I lose my mind completely — and let’s hope that’s at least until I’m 86.