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June 27th, 1997 was the first time I saw the great Herbie Hancock live in concert. No surprise that the show was at the Montreal jazz fest, they have consistently pulled in the biggest heavyweights of jazz since I’ve become aware of the genre. Back in the days before the Ottawa jazz fest started hitting above its weight I made it a point to get to the Montreal jazz fest for a show or two every year, and when I scanned the lineup in 1997 Herbie Hancock’s New Standards All Stars caught my eye immediately.
Never mind that the band Hancock had assembled for this project was a hand-picked group of the world’s most elite jazz players (Jack DeJohnette on drums, Michael Brecker on saxophone, Don Alias playing percussion, John Scofield on guitar, and Dave Holland holding down the bass), what really caught my eye was this “new standards” thing.
(Okay, I take back the “never mind…” bit. The fact that I was seeing pretty much everyone on stage for the first time at this concert made it feel like I had bought a ticket for a sextet of headliners.)
Herbie Hancock was touring an album he had recently recorded that had turned the jazz world on its ear. Dispensing with the jazz standards that have been played for over a half-century (like Autumn Leaves, Georgia On My Mind, or The Girl from Ipanema) Hancock mined the popular music of the modern era for melodies and chord progressions to jazz upon. We’re talking Paul Simon, Nirvana, and Enya songs, all given the full treatment by the top echelon of living jazz players.
When you think about it, it’s odd that this was even an idea at all. Given that countless jazz standards actually began as popular hits that were transmogrified by the new hep cats (songs like Autumn Leaves, Georgia On My Mind, or The Girl from Ipanema for example) it’s weird that the practise ever stopped. Why is it that jazz guys in the sixties didn’t play more Beatles and Rolling Stones songs? Why is it jazz heads in the ’70’s weren’t tearing up hip versions of Zeppelin or Eagles tunes? Why did it take until now for jazz guys to hook onto the blatantly melodic possibilities of Kurt Cobain?
I blame jazz snobs. You know, those flat-fifthier-than-thou morons who poo-poo anything but the “purist” jazz, completely forgetting that the genre was built on the foundation of including (and not rejecting) every musical resource available. Luckily these people usually grow out of their idiocy, but there always seems to be a new generation of know-it-all know-nothings to pop up and propagate such silliness.
Anyway, the Herbie Hancock New Standards show at the Wilfred-Pelletier Place was astoundingly good. What a treat it was to hear such legendary players dig into such great music with such verve and controlled abandon.
These guys know the score.
Todd Man Out 