ON THE AIR: HERBIE HANCOCK 'THE IMAGINE PROJECT'!

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader and composer (+ Jazz pioneer, Oscar and Grammy winner, technical wizard, academic, philanthropist, Buddhist). As part of Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound. He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace music synthesizers and funk music (characterized by syncopated drum beats). Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success among pop audiences. His music embraces elements of funk and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz. In his jazz improvisation, he possesses a unique creative blend of jazz, blues, and modern classical music, with harmonic stylings much like the styles of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

His 2007 tribute album River: The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year (facing competition from Kanye West, Foo Fighters, Amy Winehouse, and Vince Gill), only the second jazz album ever to win the award, after Getz/Gilberto in 1965.

On July 22, 2011 at a ceremony in Paris, Hancock was named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of Intercultural Dialogue. Hancock recently joined the University of California, Los Angeles faculty as a professor in the UCLA music department where he will teach jazz music.

Herbie has won an Oscar and 14 Grammy so far, besides many other awards!

''The golbalization is here, but we have to think more about the kind of globalization that we want, and not one that's handed down to us.'' - Herbie Hancock

The Imagine Project is an album released on June 22, 2010. The album, which was recorded in many locations throughout the world and features collaborations from various artists, was complemented by a documentary about the recording process. Hancock's interpretations of these songs are cross-cultural. His version of "Imagine" was inspired by the Congolese group Konono N°1. The instruments used on "The Times, They Are A' Changin" combine the West African kora with the Celtic flute, fiddle and Uilleann pipes. It was released in CD, digital download and vinyl.

Track Listing: 
1. Imagine (Featuring Pink, Seal, India Arie & Jeff Beck)  
2. Don t Give Up (Featuring Pink and John Legend)  
3. Tempo De Amor (Featuring Ceu)  
4. Space Captain (Featuring Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks) 
5. The Times, They Are A Changin (Featuring The Chieftains and Lisa Hannigan)  
6. La Tierra (Featuring Juanes)  
7. Tamitant Tilay/Exodus (Featuring K Naan and Los Lobos)  
8. Tomorrow Never Knows (Featuring Dave Matthews)  
9. A Change is Gonna Come (Featuring James Morrison)  
10. The Songs Goes On (Featuring Chaka Khan, Anoushka Shankar and Wayne Shorter)

Enjoy and have a good night!

Follow Herbie Hancock as he travels the world to record his album "The Imagine Project" 

From the studio!

MY-VERY-PERSONAL-MOOD RADIO STATION!

 

Tonight I realised I feel like a radio dj (but not the turntable scratching kind of retard; the real deal, the The Boat That Rocked kind of dj..those who play 12-inch vinyl records, start transmitting late-night, and whose 90% of listeners are the bad ass old school truck drivers). So, long story short, I'll start 'transmitting' almost every night, by posting (what I consider to be) outstanding  music (gigs, albums, festivals or just random tunes). There will be old music, brand new music, our of print and commercially unavailable gigs or things you never knew existed; there will be punk-rock, flamenco, roots reggae, bebop jazz or just old-school hip hop (to mention just a few); sometimes there will be basic info about the artists, other times full biographies, many times no info at all. My point: sometimes you'll love it, sometimes you'll hate it, or me. And now ON THE AIR: My-Very-Personal-Mood Radio Station (don't tell me the name is already taken). Hope my 10 readers will enjoy it!

Here comes the first gig, transmitting live from my comfy sofa: ANOUSHKA SHANKAR ''TRAVELLER'' LIVE AT FESTIVAL LES NUITS DE FOURVIERE, FRANCE (2012)!

And what an intro: ''It's called 'Inside me' and I wrote it when I was pregnant with my son, so it's about the joy of feeling a life dancing inside me and the energy of dance is something that's very common to the two styles that are inspiring the entire concert tonight, which are Flamenco and Indian Classical Music. So, throughout the concert, we will be exploring these two styles and I will announce the pieces as we go along.. '

Anoushka Shankar was born in London into a Bengali-Tamil Hindu family, and her childhood was divided between London and Delhi. She is a daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Shankar. Now check this out: she is also the paternal half-sister of American singer Norah Jones!!! She released her first album, Anoushka, in 1998, followed by Anourag in 2000. Both Shankar and Norah Jones were nominated for Grammy awards in 2003 when Anoushka became the youngest-ever and first woman nominee in the World Music category for her third album, Live at Carnegie Hall.

Shankar has made many guest appearances on recordings by other artists, among them Sting, Lenny Kravitz and Thievery Corporation. Duetting with violinist Joshua Bell, in a sitar-cello duet with Mstislav Rostropovich, and with flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal, playing both sitar and piano. Most recently Shankar has collaborated with Herbie Hancock on his latest record The Imagine Project.

I personally believe that, judging by how she plays that Sitar, in a different dimension she could rock a Fender almost like Hendrix!

Enjoy!