Herbie Hancock “Imagines” A New Project
July 1st, 2010 Smooth Jazz Network
He may have just turned 70, but twelve-time Grammy-winner Herbie Hancock isn’t ready for the Early Bird Special anytime soon. The jazz piano legend has just released an ambitious new music and film collaboration entitled The Imagine Project on his own label (Hancock Records). The record features over a dozen international superstars, including Seal, India Arie, the Chieftains, John Legend, Chaka Khan, Anoushka Shankar, Dave Matthews and Pink.
Hancock describes The Imagine Project as a way to achieve peace and global tolerance through the power of music; it was largely inspired by a PBS documentary, Journey of Man, in which genetic scientists trace the global family tree to a single African man from 60,000 years ago. “I decided I wanted to make a global record as an answer to the question of how do you accomplish peace, and one path is through…collaboration.”
Following in the path of his Grammy-winning 2007 tribute, River: The Joni Letters, this new album doesn’t include any original compositions; rather, there are 10 songs reflecting Hancock’s Buddhist beliefs in peace and global responsibility.
Part of The Imagine Project is a globetrotting, feature-length documentary shot by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi To the Dark Side) showcasing Hancock and the other artists working in studio settings around the world.
As for what’s next, Hancock states, “I feel like I turned 30. For me, sitting back and being in a comfort zone is like death. I want to be very much alive. There’s too much growth in me, more surfaces to scratch.”
