Herbie Hancock: In Quest of the New Appearing In Norfolk On September 22

Who invented hip-hop? Though the beat-driven form originated in underground clubs in the Bronx, it was Herbie Hancock who drove it into the spotlight with “Rockit,” an irresistible mix of keytar, turntables and sheer brilliance that rocked the GRAMMY Awards in 1984, bringing a star-studded audience to their feet.

It wasn’t the first time Herbie Hancock had boldly blended musical styles. Long an adventurous music maker, Hancock couldn’t resist experimenting, fascinated by the way that jazz and funk, rock, electronic, and more could be blended and juxtaposed into new forms in a way that Duke Ellington would have described as “beyond category.”

Born in 1940 in Chicago, the son of Winne Belle Griffin, a secretary and Waymand Edward Hancock, a government meat inspector, Herbie was a musical kid who started piano lessons at age seven, quickly becoming recognized as a prodigy. (At 11, he performed a Mozart concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.) He attended Wendell Philips High School (where, coincidentally, Nat “King” Cole, Same Cooke and Dinah Washington also number among the famous alumni). After college, he arrived in New York, where he was discovered by jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd, signed with Blue Note Records, and joined the Miles Davis Quintet. By the 70s, Hancock was gaining a reputation as a trailblazer.

Over a 50-plus year career, Hancock has captured innumerable awards and honors, including 14 GRAMMY Awards and an Oscar for the score to the movie Round Midnight.

What drives this musical genius in his ceaseless quest for the new? It’s his first and lasting love: jazz. “We all have the natural human tendency to take the safe route – to do the thing we know will work rather than taking a chance,” he wrote in his autobiography, Possibilities. “But that’s the antithesis of jazz. Jazz is about … trusting yourself to respond on the fly. If you can allow yourself to do that, you never stop exploring, you never stop learning, in music or in life.”

Virginia Arts Festival presents Herbie Hancock at Norfolk’s Chrysler Hall on Sunday, September 22. Tickets are on sale now, online at VAFEST.org or by phone at (757) 282-2822.