Photo album: Live concert by living legend Herbie Hancock Quartet was simply dazzling: Video

Living legend Herbie Hancock has wrapped up a string of North American tour dates that included a recent show at The Lyric Baltimore.

The Lyric, Herbie played keyboards and piano while joined by a band consisting of Lionel Loueke, James Genus, Terrance Blanchard, and Justin Tyson.

With a career spanning seven decades and a staggering 14 GRAMMY awards, few artists have had more influence on modern music than Herbie Hancock.

The creative force behind timeless classics like “Cantaloupe Island,” “Chameleon,” and “Rockit,” Hancock’s genre-transcending appeal and unmistakable style have cemented his status as “today’s greatest living artist,” as extolled by The Washington Post.

As the immortal Miles Davis said in his autobiography, “Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven’t heard anybody yet who has come after him.” He has transcended limitations and genres while maintaining his unmistakable voice, amazing audiences across the globe.

Herbie Hancock remains where he has always been: at the forefront of world culture, technology, business and music. Herbie Hancock has been an integral part of every popular music movement since the 1960s.

As a member of the Miles Davis Quintet that pioneered a groundbreaking sound in jazz, he also developed new approaches on his own recordings, followed by his work in the ’70s – with record-breaking albums such as “Headhunters” – that combined electric jazz with funk and rock in an innovative style that continues to influence contemporary music.

“Rockit” and “Future Shock” marked Hancock’s foray into electronic dance sounds; during the same period he also continued to work in an acoustic setting with V.S.O.P.

Hancock received an Academy Award for his Round Midnight film score and 14 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for River: The Joni Letters, and two 2011 Grammy Awards for the globally collaborative CD, The Imagine Project.

Herbie Hancock has spent half a century blending acoustic alchemy with cutting-edge electronics and successfully navigating the fine line between art and commerce. His powerful light-touch lines, immaculate sense of time and controlled dynamics remain the dominant influence on mainstream jazz piano.

Hancock gigs, you were never quite sure where things were heading. The band’s personality and solo strength played their part. But mostly the sense of discovery was due to the new angles Hancock continues to find, and the way he pushes his band to the edge. “It’s going to be whatever it is,” said Hancock, as though unlocking a secret hoard.

The evening started with “Overture”, a medley of briefly savoured themes launched by a long-sustained abstraction of electronic sound. “Mr Hands” was in there, “Butterfly” too. Piano soared over funky bass, trumpet and guitar solos impressed, and moods changed on cue. Wayne Shorter’s 1966 composition “Footprints” followed, arranged by trumpeter Terence Blanchard into a sparse contemporary cut. And then the lyrical theme, tricky harmonies and rhythmic precision of “Actual Proof”, a chance for the band to jam, and new grooves created in the moment.

Hancock’s laissez-faire approach depends on superb musicianship, but it succeeds because of collective discipline. Blanchard’s solos delivered emotional power while Lionel Loueke conjured panoramic soundscapes from his effects-laden guitar. But it was the band’s acute sense of time and seamless, densely textured sonics that defined the evening’s success.

The surprising highlight came mid-set, “Come Running to Me”, a vocoder-enhanced hit from the 1978 album Sunlight which, Hancock explained, he has only recently started playing live. “Technology has caught up,” he said, launching a masterly performance of funky highs and synthesised vocals that at times conjured a resonating blend of cathedral organ and barbershop quartet.

A medley of new tunes followed, listed as “Secret Sauce” and then “Phoelux”, from Loueke’s pen. Solos unfolded over crisply minted rhythms, drummer Justin Tyson dazzled with new-generation beats and bass guitarist James Genus, unassuming and rock-solid in support, delivered a whisper-quiet complexity of moody strums and plangent lines.

“Cantaloupe Island” ended the set, with Hancock on keytar adding new melodies and reordered beats. The encore, “Chameleon”, left the audience rising once more as one.

Here are some photos of Herbie Hancock performing at The Lyric Baltimore on Sept. 28, 2024. All photos copyright and courtesy of Steve Satzberg.