Harvard Lecture #2: ‘Breaking The Rules’

good afternoon I am Osvaldo Golikov a composer living in this area and it is my immense pleasure and honor to welcome you to the second northern lecture by Herbie Hancock for those of you who know a reminder and for those of you who don't know here comes an announcement in conjunction with these lectures the Harvard Film Archive will be screening two films featuring soundtracks by Herbie Hancock Michelangelo Antonioni's blow-up from 1966 will be screened on Sunday February 23rd at 4:30 p.m. the next day Herbie will attend and speak at the screening of Ivan Dixon's the spook who sat by the door a film from 1973 that will be Monday February 24th at 7 p.m. both screenings will take place at the Harvard Film Archive in the carpenter center 24 Quincy Street heavy last week you said that we cannot change the past nor the future only the present well it has definitely been a long present for you I resent that you have been changing for half a century and that is how it should be because of said that all great art lives in the present and your music proves him right it will continue to live in the present in the future long after we are all gone your music will keep sounding timeless yet it will always remain of the time now and of a place America your music is one of the gifts that our time and our place are living to the next generation and fortunately among other not-so-great gifts our generation leaves behind but that's not your fault if I have to choose one word to define your first lecture last week that word would be courage courage to not call your series the poetics of jazz by but the ethics of just courage do not take shelter in your stature as a music giant but to talk to us as a human being communicating with other human beings but but why should we be surprised at your courage to redefine the scope of these lectures when courage is one of the essential pillars of the ethics of jazz after all you must have great courage to create on the spot in real time something that did not exist in the world a moment ago courage to listen to react in a constructive way to dialogue to explore uncharted territories together with musicians you may have known for a long time or may have just met the ethics of jazz is indeed an ethics that could serve everyone who wants to make a difference in music and in life Herbie I was struck by your courage in not shying away from talking about the slavery routes nurturing some of America's greatest music and by walking us through the shameful acts of racism endured by some of our greatest artists beyond all that you showed an even deeper courage by teaching us how to turn poison into medicine and he and there there was also great wisdom in your talk last week I'm not talking only about the wisdom of Miles Davis but about your own wisdom in structuring the talks the talk and suggest composition and performance and at the same time as a Socratic dialogue of course my scripted lines are much funnier than those by Socrates and like his music and your unforgettable so like everyone present here last week I will remember until my last day both the battle nodes and the Stockholm chord the battle nodes are the most perfect and concise explanation for every single revolution you and miles clothed in music the reason for every time you question the status quo for every time you broke the rules what a great lesson for music and for life finally there was a Stockholm chord it haunts me even if I have never heard it I have burst into laughter so many times during this past week imagining that theme the quintet smoking like never before you dropping that Kord your instant puzzlement and horror at what you had done and that horror turning into wonder and gratitude an instant later when miles makes of that quote/unquote wrong chord an integral part of the music fabric you don't ask in such a powerful way how there are no wrong chords only an expected ones and how everything becomes part of the music I thought of your Stockholm chord dropping unexpectedly on the music and at the same time of the moment millions of years ago when a huge meteorite fell in our planet it exterminated the dinosaurs but it did not exterminate life life just took a different path it is clear that neither you nor Miles are dinosaurs you are life your ethics the ethics of jazz are the ethics of life and now it is time for us to learn how and when to break the rules ladies and gentlemen Harry Hancock [Applause] Thank You Oswaldo and my thanks and appreciation to everyone joining me this afternoon for my second lecture in the ethics of jazz series last week we discussed the wisdom of one of my musical mentors Miles Davis a jazz composer trumpeter visual artist and bandleader who had the courage to break the rules with his instrument and on the bandstand one of the most innovative musicians of the 20th century this his stylistic revolutions influenced the development of Bebop cool modal and fusion jazz and he continues to resonate and be an inspiration for millions of fans and musicians throughout the world Myles had an innate sense for change a precedence for identifying and collaborating with musicians who had become forcefields in their own right like John Coltrane Bill Evans my friend Wayne Shorter and he personified the ethics of jazz this week I want to explore the idea of rule breakers the rule breakers who choose wisely the firebrands roubles revolutionaries trailblazers misfits pioneers Mavericks dreamers those men and women who during their lifetime dare to defy the established mentor question authority and often ridiculed vilified ignored or sometimes as tossed aside in the process and their ideas were cultivated and advanced by the creative spirit and their collective sparks ignited bonfires no one could ignore for example religious leaders such as Jesus Moses or today Saburo Mackey Gucci Mackey Gucci is the founder of Soccer Gakkai the Buddhist religious organization that I belong to imprisoned in Japan during world war ii as a thought criminal he refused to bend his religious beliefs to an oppressive government and a corrupt religious culture that had given up on matters such as human rights josei toda his second-in-command who was also in prison with him and who was mentored by maki gucci resurrect the circle Gakkai after the war because of his work and his mentorship of Daisaku Ikeda who became the third president of Soka Gakkai today Chaka Chaka international is a world with his in practice in 192 countries with over 12 million members I hope to see one March 24th for my fifth lecture Buddhism and creativity will offer a little more in-depth discussion about my religious path from Marilyn Monroe who said if I had observed all the rules I'd never have gotten anywhere the Dali Lama who remarked know the rules well so you can break them effectively rules have played an integral part of our human evolution either by their enforcement or their failure but first a caveat because well what I'm going to say may be obvious but this imperative for me to state this before we get into the meat of the lecture since the subject of my lectures is ethics I emphatically state that breaking the rules has to be done with a sense of responsibility otherwise chaos ensues and I think we already have enough chaos in the world today those who fracture or replace rules and work toward a common good to elevate and honor the human spirit are exemplary actors of the highest regard that set a high bar for Humanity granted there are imperative indispensable rules that maintain order and promote security and civility I know firsthand that too many traffic violations will result in you having to go to traffic school I did and a great importance if you break a rule there are consequences so it requires ultimate courage to fight for what is ethical the visionary Steve Jobs created a brilliant advertising campaign in the late 1990s called sync different remember that in fact Miles Davis was among those featured on billboards and promotional posters that hung on the walls and homes and dormitories around the world here's to the short version of the famous Apple quote here's to the crazy ones the rebels the troublemakers the ones who see things differently while some may see them as crazy ones we see genius because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do in jazz we improvise and quite often walk alongside the mainstream we'll run wildly off into the woods so I know firsthand that it takes courage to challenge the established rules and think outside the box that's an ethic that is shared also with my Buddhist faith irrevocable rules and laws that are firmly entrenched and difficult to change sometimes wrong from the outset for example look at civil rights from the arrival of the first slaves in the 1500s it took over three hundred years before the 13th amendment abolished the tragedy and immorality of slavery our country's original sin over 12 million African human beings were shipped to the New World was approximately 11 million surviving the Middle Passage once on our shores depriving slaves of last names made self identity impossible racial subordination was unethical but inconceivably legal slaves were governed by slave codes and could be branded which prison imprisoned without a trial and put to death by hanging not to mention lynching which was acceptable blacks had no rights were considered to be chattel savages not people it was true even with the founding fathers of our nation many of whom were slave owners enslaved black men women and children broke the rules of their captivity even while still in Chains some broke free of the shackles and ran away others rebelled against their owners most famously nat turner some sabotage equipment and many performed small daily acts of resistance like slowing down work which was economically harmful to the owners and is a strategy that would later be used by labor unions unfortunately although this had a long-term effect it resulted in the presidential labeling of African Americans as lazy because the slave owners failed to grasp the meaning of the rebellious activity the spirituals hymns and work songs that channeled expressions of suffering and most importantly hopefulness during times of extreme hardship gave birth to the treasured musical art form called the blues and later rock and roll and jazz these songs were also a secret code a code used by the slaves to circumnavigate and break the owners strict rules of servitude the collective faith of the enslaved that had a better future lay ahead this hope coupled with strength of character again turned poison into medicine a Buddhist term that is a perfect descriptive it took over three centuries of bloodshed and a civil war before slaves their descendants were given citizenship and second-class citizenship at that Abraham Lincoln finally broke the rules and established the Emancipation Proclamation and eventually the rich cultural heritage of African American people was firmly enveloped imprinted and permeated into the history of our country many people have a tendency to demonize that which is threatening different or foreign to their opinions and beliefs socialism communism Islam Judaism Christianity Republicans Democrats atheists lesbians whites blacks Asians women men and so on and unfortunately rules are often set up in a way that reflects the ignorance born from and supported by demonizing just take a look at the current state of our bipartisan political system to see this in action maybe that's a inaction in my last lecture I told you about the butter notes but the first time I broke the rules in a more conventional way I had to break the rules to uncover an unconventional way of playing immersing myself in an entirely new direction I stretched stretched way beyond the rules the difference between putting my toe in the water for climbing up a steep precipice diving off a cliff into the cold deep dark sea in 1962 one year after I arrived in New York City I was working and recording with Donald Berg trumpeters Kenny dorm and Lee Morgan alto saxophone player Jackie McLean and guitarist Grant Greene so I was in good spirits and hard at work I got a call from the alto saxophonist bass clarinetist and flute us Eric Dolphy asking me to sign on for a short tour he was planning which peaked my curiosity because at the time Eric was one of the newer jazz musicians on the avant-garde jazz scene I asked Eric about his approach wondered if they had a set list of tunes and if they use regular chord changes I didn't know and even though Eric replied affirmatively it was puzzling why I'd never sounded that way to me but I agreed to work with him and thought about I would approach playing in this freer style I soon learned that his music was deeply emotional free yet engrained in the tradition of compositional structure Eric has been astutely described as being quote - in to them - out to be in and to in to be out he was influenced by bebop classical music and two of my favorite composers Bela Bartok and Igor Stravinsky I decided that if I broke some of the rules of harmony melody and rhythm that I might normally use in playing it might open up many new paths for me to explore guess what it actually worked and it unlocked the door to endless landscapes and sonic journeys ideas and techniques I continue to use it as very date the band JC Moses on drums Eddie Kahn on bass and anymore on trumpet travels the clubs from Buffalo to Philadelphia playing this very weird music and I feel the baffled audience wondering what the heck were they trying to accomplish some food and some walked out and although I did not have the verbal vocabulary or clarity to explain the music I knew there was honestly in the direction we were pursuing even though their reaction made me feel unsure of what I was playing deep down something about this experimental cutting-edge sound stirred up a passion in me to defend our performance because I believed we were on to something important every night we were in sync having visceral musical conversations that often felt angry with screams of pain but also had elements of sheer beauty tranquility and space we broke all conventional rules often there were no steady beats sometimes the music would float along with no popular finger-snapping capability we were not tethered to any earthly conventional approach we were musical astronauts but in order to succeed we not only had to walk down and conquer the tough rugged paths that lay ahead we actually had to cut down the trees and create a brand new passage this experience was like capturing lightning in a bottle creating something forceful ambiguous magical and then being able to hold onto it and reveal the treasure to the world rather than succumb to opposing and more comfortable forces this was the first time I opted to defend and support not just a right to explore but the value of our exploration with the Eric Dolphy the avant-garde and the music we were making also reflected the political and social climate of the times this was the beginning of the civil rights movement a boiling caldron of dissatisfaction was doing much of what we as black Americans in it felt an experience that anger and pain was expressed through our instruments and musical conversations this was very similar to the vibrant hip-hop movement which I embraced with my song rocket that was to develop decade later in the South Bronx musically with rap and turntablism physically with breakdancing and visually with graffiti music in general and jazz specifically has always reflected the times while upholding a sense and view towards a hopeful future and I'm proud to say that we jazz musicians the creative creators of the music and their disciples were first looking back at the Eric Dolphy years I understand that not only was this the first time I had to build and slip into the suit of battle armor but truthfully in a deeper sense I recognize that that battle was really against myself I had to make a choice of either quitting under pressure and returning to convention or diving off that clip and swimming deeper into the unknown of that cold oxy although I started out tentatively in this new environment I had to break my own rules I turned a page in my personal history book and my innate sense of curiosity coupled with this new approach to exploration to harmonious partners working together helped me develop both musically and spiritually I'm now known as a musician who constantly changes directions you know what I do not exactly agree with that impression rather than getting rid of the old and in with the new what I'm doing is colliding one experience into the next which in itself is a kind of evolution my golden rule is to keep breaking the rules keep doing the unexpected break through the comfort zone but especially I now strive to create music that serves a purpose beyond myself that engages with the world around me and upholds the ethics of jazz you learn more about my cultural diplomacy initiatives in my next lecture so breaking the rules was a very significant and essential step in my development as a musician but also more importantly in a non musical sense Thomas Edison said there are no rules here we're trying to accomplish something the experience with the Eric Dolphy landed me in an environment that was unpopular hated by many strange to most discordant highly experimental and not fully formed yet I made the decision to fight for what we felt was honest and pure I also had to fight when it came time to write and select the title of my composition watermelon man that appeared in my 1962 recording taken off first a little history about the tomb many of the pieces I have composed that have resonated with the greater majority of people that have heard my music start off with a simple idea for example watermelon man starts with one fairly long-held note then five quick notes cantaloupe island and chameleon also have easy with macfound.org my lone man was that I chose to capture a feeling and use my use of real person from my childhood as the star or source of the song I finally remembered the sounds and rhythms of the wagon wheels on the horse-drawn carriage as a teeter-totter down the uneven cobblestone back streets and alleyways in the southside of Chicago [Music] that's the wagon wheels okay I would called his physical appearance and the song the vendor saying what email Oh red ripe watermelons to sale or something like that anyway that was not that much was a tube melodic in a song sense however all the women would stop outside on their back porches leaned over the railings and yell to him hey watermelon man so I did that with the tomb he became that one long note and the watermelon man became the next five hey melon man so I wrote watermelon man an original song to help with record sales even though we suggested I do a blues cover to increase attention at that time I felt audiences were responding positively to funky jazz and since blues is part of my Chicago background I began thinking about the great heart Bob pianist and composer Horace Silver who had this engaging funky sound that I've really admired he was also on Blue Note looking into my ancestral heritage and the black experience seemed like a good launching pad and since J loved working in the fields picking cotton and singing work songs would not really a part of my big city Chicago background as they wrote in honor as the character that I knew well the watermelon man in a way this idea was a little bit ahead of its time this was 1962 six years before James Brown will say it loud I'm black and I'm proud and the idea of watermelons was not particularly stylish and frankly at that time many black people were embarrassed by watermelon in a white community because of this unrealistic stereotyping other these were perceptions and this was about to be a significant moment in my life it took courage for me to use this title over a half-century ago but I mustered it up because I knew that there was nothing wrong with a watermelon man or with watermelons I mean it sounds ridiculous now but back then it was an issue why did water Mountain Man resonate with the general listening audience aside from the heartfelt animated character that simplicity to melody ignited observation although always looking for a simple reference something that is held true throughout my entire career there's always a complexity involved but the the simple germ the Nugget the core of the piece makes it more powerful speaks to listeners hearts and lives and and holds their inches there are a multitude of examples everywhere that you look and listen observe your neighbors face we're balanced and simple too as nose mouth two ears but delve further and we're ugly intricate while the thread of my musical ideas may begin with a simple rhythm the temple and pulse of my life is a multiplex and I like exploring and creating manifold possibilities intrigues me and combining contrasting antithetical ideas and choices can often result in a volcanic explosion of the fresh and unexpected that's why I don't have a permanent ban and why I created the recording and it's popular documentary possibilities my innate curiosity the same curiosity that had me taken apart clocks and watches when I was a little boy made me a perfect candidate for my experience with avant-garde jazz scene and the spirit returned when I organized my band Mundi she that recorded and performed between 1970 1973 in my album speak like a child in a way was a forerunner to in 1d she speak like a child was an expensive maiden voyage as I mentioned a few years a few minutes ago I'm not striking out to build something new while discarding what I've done before I'm layering shaping and molding and spinning the new the cutting edge sometimes out of older material influenced by a long line of more established musicians including Miles Davis the cutting edge John Coltrane and other well-known players they all helped power and motivate in one BC idea even contemporary and electronic musicians from the classical music scene like karl-heinz Stockhausen John Cage Igor Stravinsky Bela Bartok fed our experimental hunger the musicians were impacted by more explorative approaches and as the band began to stretch out I too wanted to open up that sound a little more which eventually evolved into a freer form of playing and arrangement as opposed to the focus of speak like a child which I described as a forward look into what could be a bright future the spirit of the band was a product of living in the turbulent times they are a-changin era it felt like everything was up for grabs including civil rights women's lib experimentation with meiyan altering drugs and the sexual revolution including the beginning of the gay rights battle brought to life by Harvey Milk when DC United American and African cultures and rhythms an assortment of musical genres and acoustic and electric sounds into experiments that were technologically politically and culturally relevant and propulsive Jimmy he's brilliant saxophonist and composer has a son to me we joined us for a soundcheck when we were performing at Shelley's manhole and in Los Angeles and suggested we take on swahili names that were characteristic of the band members for example i was given a name mondesi which means writer a composer trumpeter eddie Henderson became in conga which is a witch doctor doctor bassist Buster Williams in chaise AG which meant the player but we interpreted it as a gift title of his gift for gab which we did have a way with the ladies clarinet and flute as Benny Marvin was waiting we laid meaning the body of good health drummer Billy Hart was Jabalia trombonist julian priesthood was called people in total the man pioneered the use of electronics and synthesizers and believe it or not Patrick Gleason's monophonic Moog synthesiser commanded an entire room and took one week to set up before recording sessions I'll tell you more about this in my upcoming innovation and new technologies lecture our creative process was compelling we might start a song by improvising on basic instruments like hand carved wooden flutes then the idea would develop and expand when one of the musicians let's say the drummer would play a primitive sounding beat next the bass player might add an element he was followed by one of the horn players for example Benny Marvin would play something on a bass clarinet or on one of his unusual saxophones like the man's ello high above the normal range of the instrument which often sounded like he was screaming and then the trumpet player might add trills who have gone back and forth between two notes then I might join in on a Fender Rhodes piano twosome that might sound chaotic but for the musicians this is a response to real feelings and a determined search for expression outside the unexpected it was part of the story the creativity and the raw energy we built in twentieth-century terms this relates to the beginning of the contemporary classical era and the seismic genius of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky who was also selected for Harvard University not in professorship a rule-breaker he had a heavy duty effect on me and on when when Vichy I love service keys music fibre petrushka every concerto especially the soccer DuPont or the Rite of Spring which is one of my all-time favorite musical creations it's astounding how he composed this work especially considering the other music that was written at that same time the right of screen was a complex orchestral work and ballet written for the 1933 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev bellicose Vallejos and Karabakh choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky and first performed the experimental unorthodox combination caused an uproar and and the audience stays the near riot the costumes were considered outrageous and the eccentric story of pagan sacrifice created quite a scandal is now considered to be a masterpiece and is one of the most important and influential musical works of the 20th century with countless artists citing it as a seminal listening moment in their creative lives and endeavours I highly recommend a PBS keeping score program by the American conductor and pianist and composer Michael Tilson Thomas who not only explains the process of creating this miraculous work of art but brings it to life in the most infectious manner the courage enlightenment and forward thinking as Sowinski continues to be an excellent teacher for me and musicians in every artistic genre however many teachers have educated and continue to train their students by placing a rulebook on an imaginary pedestal and adhering to strict convention but I believe a master teacher has the wisdom to encourage critical thinking and development outside of the anointed rulebook for the most part the basic skills oriented education you know the little red schoolhouse programs and and our schools better known as the 3 R's should be guidelines providing a launching pad for learning and basic development rules have no more rigidity than the stem of a sunflower but that flower allows the blossom to bend and change direction in order to face the Sun which in itself appears to move because of the Earth's rotation and each rotation establishes what we call a day and with each day there is constant change with his reasoning rules need to be flexible to function within the creative aspect of living as a support for change and new development rules support but also encourage new possibilities and who are the people we study certainly not the ones who follow the rules we study the ones who break the rules and make new rules right the rule breakers who offer original realms of investigation and create new conventions men and women who use their imaginations obsessions elbow grease and ethics to demonstrate what can be accomplished in and outside of the classroom and Sullivan is a perfect model of a master teacher she was called a miracle worker for a good reason her work with Helen Keller as an instructor and companion is legendary Mahatma Gandhi exemplifies the phrase be the change you wish to see Albert Einstein was a parks so Isaac Newton dr. Martin Luther King jr. Socrates Nelson Mandela Nicholas Copernicus Igor Stravinsky Harvey Milk Elvis Presley Maria Montessori Jackie Robinson's nice hop world Mikey Gucci and the transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau all taught by example were ridiculed for their ethics but these same beliefs permanently changed the rules quote it is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent that survives it is the one that is the most adaptable to change said Charles Darwin to education models admire are the Khan Academy a free not-for-profit global Academy accessed on the web and the circle school system which advances the theory that the focus of education should be the lifelong happiness of the learner the development of the unique personality of each child with an emphasis on the importance of leading socially contribute contributed life so I believe the time is right to replace the ingrained firmly fixed rules of how our children receive their education and I'd like to tell you about a groundbreaking new initiative that I'm involved with and I believe it could help change the world I realize it's pretty ambitious statement but with the help of UNESCO the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization while I service cults as goodwill ambassador and the throwing spunked Institute of jazz where I serve as the chairman we are preparing for the challenge we aim to harness the amazing power of music and the dominant role it plays in the lives of our young people to initiate meaningful changes and transformations in the classroom studying and having a love for math science and technology has been important to my career as a musician teacher mentor and a humanitarian after many years of performing and research the ideas and knowledge I accumulated in school became the building blocks of my creativity there's a beautiful symbiotic relationship between math and music rhythm a time factor is expressed in whole half quarter eighth or 16th notes a time signature is a fraction in today's society kids use portable music to study relaxed walk the dog sleep sync exercise communicate and connect with their peers and the list goes on and believably I have no idea how they do it I can't they were born into a world where multitasking is a basic necessity right along with food and shelter this technological development didn't existence when our current teaching methods were established so it makes sense to me to expand the curricula to catch up with our modern habits unfortunately today many young people show little interest in studying of forging careers in math and science and it's become a national crisis seems like every week there's a new story about the dearth of students desiring a career in these fields however I believe the development of a new methodology and teaching tools based on musical concepts has the potential to make a paradigm shift in education and a great importance how its positively received by the youth linking music to math and science must be further explored as a solution and if we succeed and I have high hopes that we will then the spark of inspiration and interest will be ignited recalling this new project math science and music we plan to gather the gifted inventive and visionary young and old in education music the visual arts business technology psychology literature math science engineering medicine and other areas to develop curricula employing and implementing the basic elements of music including parts of songs and pieces from various genres and everything in between I've already talked about some of the most brilliant leaders in their fields such as the imaginative team at cycling 74 who is creating some really interesting visual programming tools that serve as the creative engine behind thousands of innovative projects in audio-visual media and physical computing and revolutionary thinkers such as park tortilla of trailblazer was researching and developing new technologies for musical self-expression and creating intelligent apps for phones and computers our goal is to pilot math science and music in the United States public schools in the near future and expanded globally in subsequent years the future of our planet depends on education and by blending the human spirit with the advances of technology we will do everything in our power to break the rules and encourage young people to try something original and alternative that will help them learn math and science skills through something they crave music the music education world has been complaining about the lack of government support of music in the schools and the emphasis on math and science at the expense of culture unfortunately bound by a state and federally manet mandated standards the conventional wisdom in many school districts now they pates that aside from pure enjoyment music are an often physical education have little value for academic excellence so in schools across the country these programs have been removed or relegated to after-school activities there was once a time where every student had an opportunity to select and learn to play an instrument but that is no longer the situation but maybe this is a way to activate the phrase if you can't beat them join them and find a new function for the value of music it's a win-win situation and I like that personally I feel that without some connection of the arts there was little creativity in problem-solving or critical thinking furthermore the heart will be missing our future scientists and mathematicians will become men and women without souls something profound elegant and beautiful will be lacking from their core and with this absence how will we develop our humanism and our ethics it's an uphill battle to bring music back into the schools the artistic community has been reaching out to manufacturers to purchase instruments and substance subsidized after-school programs the Alliance monk institute of jazz the jazz educational organization near and dear to my heart has been pilots for over a quarter of a century working to bring jazz into the souls and minds of students around the world by providing a national jazz curriculum and a wide variety of programs including jazz in the classroom blues and jazz bebop T hip hop in one of the world's most intensive jazz college programs the Diwali spunk Institute of jazz performance at UCLA whose students often serve as jazz ambassadors and mentors to international students in small villages and big bustling cities and every one of our programs is presented free of charge when unfortunately this is the exception all of these programs and truly everything in life is made possible through mentoring in most instance instances mentoring is perceived as the sharing of experience knowledge and wisdom between generations but in some instances it can be a relationship with one of your peers in a way I've mentioned several celebrated champions but what about the unsung heroes whose substantive substantive unrecognized contributions and bravery are confined to oblivion or the unappreciated and neglected who are ignored and dismissed but sometimes uncovered in the future like Vincent van Gogh or in rieta lakhs and unheralded jazz pianists since innovative harmonic approach influence and open my eyes to possibilities was one of the latter his name was Chris Anderson Chris was self-taught and like me born in Chicago a master of harmony and sensitivity he was respected by his peers but it was difficult for him to plan work because he was born with a crippling disability blind by the age of 20 he also suffered a congenital bone disease but didn't hamper his creativity first time I met Chris was in the late 1950s and early 60s when I went to afternoon jam session run by Joe Siegel one of the primary promoters of jazz in Chicago drummer Elvin Jones of multi-instrumentalists Rahsaan Roland Kirk they both had agreed to be guest artists so I was naturally looking forward to hearing them in the middle of the afternoon Joe introduced Chris who was going to perform solo he had a crowd and one eye socket that appeared to be empty and in the leads sealed shut his legs and face were somewhat too started teeth were missing he was a sight to behold and I wondered what was he going to do with the keyboard when he started to play a ballad called don't follow her growl I was thunderstruck riveted to my seat time Stood Still he created such beauty that I was in tears I felt his lush cause with with all my senses afterwards he agreed to teach me I proceeded to study with this harmonic master and what I learned from him was surprising he often used imagery when he spoke about harmony which was instance interesting because he couldn't see he connected with nature water going over pebbles the wish of the wind a babbling brook songbirds the silence of a puffy cloud references he used to describe feeling through his music his cinematic approach to harmony originated in the French impressionistic music of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy which had previously influenced jazz in the 20s and the 30s over time some of it was forgotten but not by Chris some of the techniques involved into melodic movement within a quarrel structure and certain voice leading techniques that had been lost over time not truly explored in modern jazz he developed something new by taking older overlooked ideas then restructuring and combining them with his current approach not exactly like but similar to what classical composers did with a Gregorian chant yes here a once I heard Chris play I was hooked and proceeded to copy and dissect the information and incorporated into the harmonic expression I've used ever since this beautiful mentor disciple relationship has been handed down to younger musicians through me and others and thus have incorporated Chris's approach into the musical lexicon if you listen to the recording of solitude on my album the Joni letters with just me and the bassist Dave Holland you hear Chris Anderson all over that tune an important part of the creative process and perhaps a broader interpretation of breaking the rules is taking an idea that has been edited out of the vocabulary rediscovering and restructuring it an evolution of the original idea but this reminds me of the earliest interpreters of scratching they took old outdated 78rpm records applied a new technique and change the course of music right maybe it was serendipity that Chris died just a few days before I won the Grammy Award in February 2008 for album of the year and I'm proud to give him credit for making a contribution to my body of work which propelled me onto the stage that magical evening before we start the Q&A I'd like to thank all of you for joining me this afternoon next week I'll be discussing cultural diplomacy and the voice of freedom and I hope to see you again I think this impression of the late Dean of scientific writers Robert Heinlein perfectly sums up the spirit of this lecture I am free no matter what roles surround me if I find them tolerable tolerate them if I find them too obnoxious I break them and free because I know that I am I alone and morally responsible for everything I do [Applause]

Channel: Herbie Hancock

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Length: 63min 38sec (3818 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 19 2017