Concert Review: Herbie Hancock Continues His Jazz Legacy at The Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis, 10-22-25
Since the early 1960s, Herbie Hancock has been a keyboard master and jazz master and luminary with his own groups and also, for a period, as part of Miles Davis's legendary electric jazz fusion bands from his albums in the mid to late '60s and early '70s including such great works as "In A Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew" as well as forming his legendary group in the '70s, The Headhunters with reed player Bennie Maupin, bassist Paul Jackson, and drummer, Harvey Mason. Or, even before that, Hancock's work featuring the late, great tenor and soprano saxophone virtuoso, Wayne Shorter. Hancock, playing grand piano, Korg Kronos synthesizer and vocoder, was joined in this newly formed band, by a new drummer who I cannot remember the name of, off hand, but also, by a handful of modern jazz titans, Lionel Loueke on guitar, bassist James Genus, and trumpeter, Terence Blanchard.
There easily could have been a saxophonist in the band, however, either no one on saxes or reeds was available, or, none was chosen for the current band. The music was very eclectic and a lot of it revolved around classic compositions from throughout Hancock's illustrious, storied, six-decade career. The opening medley included, as Hancock told the audience, a setting found within the Korg Kronos synthesizer, which led to some improvisation before the band came in with Hancock's cover of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints".
"Footprints" which Hancock played on piano with Shorter, in the 1960s brought back many memories for genuine jazz fans. From there, Hancock leaned heavily on his catalog of compositions on his solo recordings especially from the 1970s and '80s. Compositions like "Actual Proof", and "Butterfly" before Herbie Hancock struck up a narrative about the incredible and yet jarring advancements of technology and how they relate to not just music, but everyday life, too. From this conversation, he showed the audience, through conversation, and singing in this conversation, how a vocoder works.
The first half of the show seemed to go by quickly, and flowed right into the second half, which featured even more of Hancock's instrumental and jazz fusion era catalog and compositions like "Secret Sauce", "Hang Up Your Hangups", "Rockit", with its hip hop influenced DJ record scratching section and with Terence Blanchard switching from trumpet over to synthesizer for a brief time, and the song "Spider." Then came, the encore, the expected encore, of Hancock's best known instrumental, the 15+ minute jam, the opening track from the 1973 Herbie Hancock & The Headhunters record, "Chameleon".
"Chameleon" with it's extended jamming was the centerpiece of the show that sent the captivated audience into a frenzy. A great show played by a great group of musicians who enjoyed every moment of it just as much as the audience did. This was a fun concert.
Set list.
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