Herbie Hancock Celebrates Peace - Hollywood Bowl - 8/29/12

By Sean J. O'Connell Thu., Aug. 30 2012 at 9:34 AM

Categories: Jazz

SJ O'Connell

Herbie Hancock Celebrates Peace
Hollywood Bowl
8-29-12

Better than...the Republican National Convention.

Let's get this out of the way early: I like peace. Obtaining peace and air conditioning are my two highest priorities these days and peace is winning by a mile. I also like pianist Herbie Hancock. He's a jazz treasure who happens to live in town and has been the creative chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the last couple of years. Last night, however, Mr. Hancock and a crew of unbelievably gifted bandleaders took to the Hollywood Bowl stage for a night of confusion that left their message of peace a little muddled.

The evening opened with a brief set by harmonica player Gregoire Maret's quartet. I prefer my harmonica players to be sweating and swathed in denim, but Maret was dressed all in white and supported by a bank of synthesizers. His set veered on the edge of new age several times, but was luckily reeled in by drummer Clarence Penn's muscular, jarring thump. Maret closed with a bit of energy, bouncing on his toes in an unhinged display of intensity that balanced out the previous swirl.

After intermission the headliners approached the stage to near silence. In the shadows were an amazing cast of legends: saxophonist Wayne Shorter, electric bassist Marcus Miller, acoustic bassist Dave Holland, drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, tablist Zakir Hussain, guitarist Carlos Santana and a host of others. It was a Guitar Center's Noah's Ark assembled on stage, two of each kind of instrument.

The group opened with a meandering "Ode to Joy." A feel of anticipatory dread rolled over the synthesized strings. The band eventually segued into the Mongo Santamaria jazz standard "Afro Blue." It was immediately clear that this large group of jazz legends was going to be visibly led by the billed "special guest" Santana, as his chopped phrasing took the tune in a direction Wayne Shorter seemed unlikely to go. Several times during the tune Shorter wet his reed before stepping away from the microphone as the band continued to churn, looking for direction.

Wayne Shorter should be a headliner on the Hollywood Bowl stage. Herbie Hancock should be a headliner. Marcus Miller was already a headliner this summer and Dave Holland should have been a headliner as well. Instead, this group of leaders often found themselves unsure of themselves. If a solo voice didn't speak up, the unmistakable sound of Santana's guitar leapt from the speakers.

Throughout the set I had to look to the screens to figure out why the crowd was clapping. It wasn't in response to the music, but likely instead to the gestures of the behatted Santana who was attempting to find order among these giants.

It's unclear how this led to a message of peace but...

Tags:

August 29 2012, Herbie Hancock, Hollywood Bowl, Santana, Wayne Shorter

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3po1nt0

1 Like

not sure how to encapsulate this concert in words; there were moments of brilliance but others of head scratching perplexity. i had not seen carlos santana perform in many years, so his contribution was fine to my ears but i would agree that some of the musicians were under utilized. marcus miller sounded great with a diverse array of low end styles and it was excellent to see herbie on keytar for novelty's sake though he indeed played the heck out of it. zakir hussain floored me as he has in each of the opportunities i've had in listening to him live. i enjoyed the Michael Jackson cover of "they don't care about us" and picked up on wayne shorter's nod to "a love supreme." we hoped for an encore from the group but that did not materialize. the concert will remain with me for its unique and unparalleled assemblage of talent and, on a more personal level, it served as a going-away party for two close friends leaving LA. on a warm night at the hollywood bowl the collective sound may have not reached upper echelons as we had hoped but it still left us fulfilled and eager for another evening with herbie and bandmates, whoever they may be the next time around. i surmise his show at the walt disney concert hall in april will be more well rounded, as was his appearance there in march 2011. i'm anticipating that one while i fondly recall last night's experience.

simimoffatts

@Annette Kessler and I were there with much anticipation but left feeling disappointed. Your review was right on. It was like being in the basement of a friend's house listening to a jam session of the neighborhood musicians. The biggest disappointment was that Marcus Miller wasn't featured more - he seemed to be the only thing holding this mess together. In the rare event he did take a solo, no one knew it because the lights and camera were on someone else (those guys had no idea what they were doing, either). This was a mess and I feel totally ripped off that these guys apparently didn't bother rehearsing enough for me to get my $200.00 worth. Herbie Hancock played one solo that I thought was just pretty good - other than that he seemed to be spending most of his time experimenting with his synth trying to see what new (wierd) sounds he could come up with. Carlos Santana seemed to always be playing - and that was nothing more than rudimentary 8th notes that were often out of time. The sound guy apparently thought Santana was great because he had him turned up too much. Marcus Miller and Dave Holland were the only things holding this train on the tracks...to an extent, anyway. I have so much admiration and respect for many of the musicians on the stage but this was, to say the least, an absolute disappointment. We parked in the lot at Ventura/Lankershim and rode the bus. On the way back we passed The Baked Potato, a place I used to go to regularly but hadn't been in years, and I couldn't help but wish I would have spent the evening there, instead.