CAL PERFORMANCES

Thursday, March 19, 2015, 8pmZellerbach Hall

Chick Corea, pianoHerbie Hancock, piano

Jazz at Cal Performances is sponsored by Nadine Tang and Bruce Smith.

This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Joseph and Sherry Felson.

Cal Performances’ 2014–2015 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

Tonight’s program will be announced from the stage.

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Chick Corea has attained iconic status inmusic. The keyboardist, composer, and band-leader is a DownBeat Hall of Famer and NEAJazz Master, as well as the fourth-most nomi-nated artist in Grammy Awards history with63 nods and 22 wins, in addition to a numberof Latin Grammys. From straight-ahead toavant-garde, bebop to jazz-rock fusion, chil-dren’s songs to chamber and symphonicworks, Mr. Corea has touched an astonishingnumber of musical bases in his career sinceplaying with the genre-shattering bands ofMiles Davis in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Yet Mr. Corea has never been more produc-tive than in the 21st century, whether playingacoustic piano or electric keyboards, leadingmultiple bands, performing solo or collabo-rating with a who’s who of music.Underscoring this, he has been named Artistof the Year twice this decade in the DownBeatReaders Poll. Born in 1941 in Massachusetts,Mr. Corea remains a tireless creative spirit,continually reinventing himself through hisart. As The New York Times has said, he is “aluminary, ebullient and eternally youthful.”

Mr. Corea’s classic albums as a leader or co-leader include Now He Sings, Now He Sobs(with Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes; BlueNote, 1968), Paris Concert (with Circle:Anthony Braxton, Dave Holland, and BarryAltschul; ECM, 1971) and Return to Forever(with Joe Farrell, Stanley Clarke, AirtoMoreria, and Flora Purim; ECM, 1972), aswell as Crystal Silence (with Gary Burton;ECM, 1973), My Spanish Heart

(Polydor/Verve, 1976), Remembering BudPowell (Stretch, 1997), and Further Explorations(with Eddie Gomez and Paul Motian; Concord,2012). A venturesome collaborator, Mr. Coreahas teamed with artists from jazz legend LionelHampton to new-generation pianist StefanoBollani, from banjoist Béla Fleck to vocal su-perstar Bobby McFerrin. Mr. Corea’s duo part-nerships with Gary Burton and HerbieHancock have endured for decades.

The latest release from Mr. Corea ranks as anew classic in his discography: Trilogy, a livetriple-disc set with bassist Christian McBrideand drummer Brian Blade (Concord, 2014).Winner of two 2015 Grammy Awards for BestJazz Instrumental Album and Best ImprovedJazz Solo (for “Fingerprints”), Trilogy docu-ments the trio interpreting classic composi-tions (such as “Spain”) and previouslyunreleased pieces by Mr. Corea (“PianoSonata: The Moon”), an array of jazz standards,and even a Prélude by Aleksander Skryabin.

In 2012, Mr. Corea’s most recent albumwith vibraphonist Gary Burton, Hot House(Concord), marked the fifth decade of theirduo. It earned the pianist two Grammys: BestInstrumental Composition for “Mozart GoesDancing” (his work for piano, vibes, andstring quartet) and Best Improvised Jazz Solo(for “Hot House”). These were his 19th and20th Grammy wins. Rare for a “jazz musician,”Mr. Corea received the Richard J. BogomolnyAward from Chamber Music America in2010, and he broke new ground as a composerwith The Continents: Concerto for Jazz Quintetand Chamber Orchestra, released in 2013 bythe storied classical label DeutscheGrammophon. Mr. Corea recorded his firstalbum of solo piano in 1971, and he contin-ued his intimate journey with the instrumenton Solo Piano: Portraits (Concord, 2014).

For a sold-out international tour and livealbum in 2008, Mr. Corea reconvened his pio-neering jazz-rock fusion band Return toForever, which he founded in 1972. The core ofthe band—Mr. Corea with original memberStanley Clarke and veteran Lenny White—pro-duced a Grammy-winning acoustic album in2011 with Forever (Concord). Then a new ver-sion of Return to Forever—with Mr. Clarke, Mr. White, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Frank

CAL PERFORMANCES

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Gambale—toured the world to acclaim,yielding the live CD/DVD The MothershipReturns (Eagle Rock, 2011). In another cele-bration of kindred spirits, Mr. Corea co-ledthe Five Peace Band with guitarist JohnMcLaughlin, a fellow Miles Davis alumnus.The group won a Grammy for Five PeaceBand Live (Concord, 2009).

For 2013 album The Vigil (Concord), Mr. Corea put together a new-era electro/acoustic quintet, featuring himself on keyboardsand longtime associate Tim Garland on reeds,alongside some hot young players. A review inThe Guardian is indicative of this artist’s quest-ing path, no matter his accomplishments andawards: “Chick Corea sounds on scintillatingform…. This full-on set is all about celebratingand reinventing, not polishing silverware.”

Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modernmusic. Throughout his explorations, he hastranscended limitations and genres whilemaintaining his unmistakable voice. With anillustrious career spanning five decades and14 Grammy Awards, including Album of theYear for River: The Joni Letters, he continuesto amaze audiences across the globe.

There are few artists in the music industrywho have had more influence on acoustic andelectronic jazz and R&B than Mr. Hancock.

As the immortal Miles Davis said in his auto-biography, “Herbie was the step after BudPowell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven’theard anybody yet who has come after him.”

Born in Chicago in 1940, Mr. Hancock wasa child piano prodigy who performed aMozart piano concerto with the ChicagoSymphony Orchestra at age eleven. He beganplaying jazz in high school, initially influ-enced by Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. Healso developed a passion for electronics andscience, and double-majored in music andelectrical engineering at Grinnell College.

In 1960, Mr. Hancock was discovered bytrumpeter Donald Byrd. After two years ofsession work with Mr. Byrd as well as PhilWoods and Oliver Nelson, he signed withBlue Note as a solo artist. His 1963 débutalbum, Takin’ Off, was an immediate success,producing the hit “Watermelon Man.”

In 1963, Mr. Davis invited Mr. Hancock tojoin the Miles Davis Quintet. During his fiveyears with Mr. Davis, Mr. Hancock and hiscolleagues Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone),Ron Carter (bass), and Tony Williams (drums)recorded many classics, including E.S.P.,Nefertiti, and Sorcerer. Later on, Mr. Hancockmade appearances on Davis’s groundbreakingIn a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, which her-alded the birth of jazz fusion.

Mr. Hancock’s own solo career blossomedon Blue Note, with classic albums includingMaiden Voyage, Empyrean Isles, and SpeakLike a Child. He composed the score toMichelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow Up,which led to a successful career in feature filmand television music.

After leaving Mr. Davis, Mr. Hancock puttogether a new band called the Headhuntersand, in 1973, recorded Head Hunters. With itscrossover hit single “Chameleon,” it becamethe first jazz album to go platinum.

By mid-decade, Mr. Hancock was playingfor stadium-sized crowds all over the worldand had no fewer than four albums in the popcharts at once. In total, Mr. Hancock hadeleven albums in the pop charts during the1970s. His 1970s output inspired and pro-vided samples for generations of hip-hop anddance music artists. But Mr. Hancock alsostayed close to his love of acoustic jazz,

recording and performing with V.S.O.P. (re-uniting him with his Miles Davis colleagues),and in duet settings with Chick Corea andOscar Peterson.

In 1980, Mr. Hancock introduced the trum-peter Wynton Marsalis to the world as a soloartist, producing his début album and touringwith him as well. In 1983, a new pull to the al-ternative side led Mr. Hancock to a series of col-laborations with Bill Laswell. The first, FutureShock, again struck platinum, and the single“Rockit” rocked the dance and R&B charts,winning a Grammy for Best R&B Instrumental.The video of the track won five MTV awards.Sound System, the follow-up, also received aGrammy in the R&B instrumental category.

Mr. Hancock won an Oscar in 1986 forscoring the film ’Round Midnight, in which healso appeared as an actor. Numerous televi-sion appearances over the years led to twohosting assignments in the 1980s: Rock Schoolon PBS and Showtime’s Coast to Coast.

After an adventurous 1994 project forMercury Records, Dis Is Da Drum, he movedto the Verve label, forming an all-star band torecord 1996’s Grammy-winning The NewStandard. In 1997, an album of duets with Mr. Shorter, 1+1, was released.

In 1998, Mr. Hancock released Gershwin’sWorld, which included collaborators JoniMitchell, Stevie Wonder, Kathleen Battle, theOrpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Shorter,and Mr. Corea. Gershwin’s World won threeGrammys in 1999, including Best TraditionalJazz Album and Best R&B Vocal Performancefor Mr. Wonder’s “St. Louis Blues.”

Mr. Hancock reunited with Mr. Laswell tocollaborate with some young hip-hop andtechno artists on 2001’s Future2Future. He alsojoined with Roy Hargrove and MichaelBrecker in 2002 to record a live concert album,Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall, a trib-ute to John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Possibilities, released in 2005, teamed

Mr. Hancock with such popular artists as Sting,Annie Lennox, John Mayer, Christina Aguilera,Paul Simon, Carlos Santana, Joss Stone, and

Damien Rice. That year, he played a number ofconcert dates with a re-staffed Headhunters,and became the first Artist-in-Residence at theTennessee-based festival Bonnaroo.

In 2007, Mr. Hancock recorded and re-leased River: The Joni Letters, a tribute to long-time friend and collaborator Joni Mitchell,featuring Mr. Shorter, Lionel Loueke, DaveHolland, and Vinnie Colaiuta and co-pro-duced by Larry Klein. He enlisted vocalistsNorah Jones, Tina Turner, Corinne Bailey Rae,Luciana Souza, Leonard Cohen, and Ms. Mitchell herself to perform songs shewrote or was inspired by. The album garneredthree Grammy Awards, including Album ofthe Year; Mr. Hancock is one of only a hand-ful of jazz musicians ever to receive that honor.

In 2010, Mr. Hancock released the criticallyacclaimed CD, Herbie Hancock’s The ImagineProject, winner of two 2011 Grammy Awardsfor Best Pop Collaboration and BestImprovised Jazz Solo. Utilizing the universallanguage of music to express its central themesof peace and global responsibility, The ImagineProject was recorded around the world andfeatures a stellar group of musicians, includ-ing Jeff Beck, Seal, Pink, Dave Matthews, theChieftains, Mr. Loueke, Oumou Sangaré,Konono No. 1, Anoushka Shankar, ChakaKhan, Marcus Miller, Derek Trucks, SusanTedeschi, Tinariwen, and Ceu.

Mr. Hancock also maintains a thriving ca-reer outside the performing stage and record-ing studio. Recently named by the Los AngelesPhilharmonic as Creative Chair for Jazz, hecurrently also serves as Institute Chairman ofthe Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, theforemost international organization devotedto the development of jazz performance andeducation worldwide. Mr. Hancock is also afounder of the International Committee ofArtists for Peace, and was recently awardedthe much esteemed Commandeur des Arts etdes Lettres by French Prime Minister FrançoisFillon. In 2011, Mr. Hancock was designatedan honorary UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadorby UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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