Herbie Hancock Quotes & Trivia



Quotes

A method that doesn't use what you know. It's just pure, raw emotion.

Actually, African Americans I think are completely now all mixed.

And I don't always talk about music, and I don't always play music, and I don't always think about music.

And if I don't express that, then what's my life worth?

And that was fascinating, because you could do something different every time.

At first I sounded like any stiff classical musician, trying to play that stuff.

Being a musician is what I do, but it's not what I am.

But I can't name a specific synthesizer that is my favorite.

But I have to be careful not to let the world dazzle me so much that I forget that I'm a husband and a father.

But if I'm banging my head against a wall because I can't come up with any ideas, that's not so much fun.

But it's all part of the humanistic approach. Humanism amid the machines, you know?

But these days I never turn on radios, I always turn them off.

But, the truth is that everyone is somebody already.

By contrast, wisdom captivates people's hearts and has the power to open a new age.

Creativity and artistic endeavors have a mission that goes far beyond just making music for the sake of music.

Creativity shouldn't be following radio; it should be the other way around.

Even the things that are on the Plugged Nickel set. I don't know how we did some of that.

Getting the Oscar had the biggest impression on me.

He just blew me away and what it taught me was that Miles didn't hear it as a mistake.

I actually own Final Cut Pro, which is software for editing video, and Premiere from Adobe, I have that.

I decided years ago that I wasn't interested in being a virtuoso of the piano.

I feel a lot more secure about the directions I take, than I might have, had I not practiced Buddhism.

I get bored easily, but later I learned that it is OK to do something that others have done.

I have available to me all of the tools of my musical experience.

I just wish more attention could be placed on the human being.

I look for what's of value and extract that. I don't look to criticize.

I mean, nobody has a statement on their record.

I started playing piano when I was 7. And I started with classical lessons. Then I really got exposed to jazz.

I think I heard the name Muddy Waters first, then John Lee Hooker.

I think I was supposed to play jazz.

I think there's a great beauty to having problems. That's one of the ways we learn.

I try stuff. I synthesize what's of value with some of the other things I have at my disposal.

I try to practice with my life.

I was excited about the possibility of going to New York.

I was making a hierarchy out of music, and it's ridiculous.

I was very much aware of blues, because it was on the radio all the time.

I wasn't concerned about jazz - that's just one of the tools.

I'm always interested in looking forward toward the future. Carving out new ways of looking at things.

I'm always looking to create new avenues or new visions of music.

I'm aware that a lot of what is happening in jazz has not had a very dynamic change in a long time.

I'm happy if anything that I did takes the limelight.

I'm not telling students not to practice or advising people to limit themselves.

I've been a religious, spiritual person for a long time.

'I've got to learn how to do this. That's my instrument, and he can do it. Why can't I?

I've had a lot of music in my own head.

In the past, there's always been one leader that has led the pack to development of the music.

It is people's hearts that move the age.

It pulled me like a magnet, jazz did, because it was a way that I could express myself.

It's not exclusive, but inclusive, which is the whole spirit of jazz.

It's not the style that motivates me, as much as an attitude of openness that I have when I go into a project.

Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.

Jazz is about being in the moment.

Like no matter what happens, this would be the ultimate, they can make something positive happen.

Miles' sessions were not typical of anybody else's sessions. They were totally unique.

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.

Music is the tool to express life - and all that makes a difference.

Nobody told me I was a child prodigy.

One of the greatest attributes of jazz, I think, is that it is that open.

One thing I like about jazz is that it emphasized doing things differently from what other people were doing.

One thing that attracted me to Buddhism was the support for this larger vision of values.

People are afraid to spend money now because they don't know how long they're going to be working.

Pieces don't have to have the same tempo from beginning to end.

See, there were certain rules I'd always used, and people like Trane, they would break those rules.

Since time is a continuum, the moment is always different, so the music is always different.

So I didn't actually change my name the way some people did.

So I'm out of the box - and understanding that has opened up my interests in the rest of the world.

So in other words, we were constantly challenged to grow, and that's what a master does.

Technology has developed to a whole other level and there's the scientist part of me that loves that stuff.

The first thing I ever heard about synthesizers, they were being used in rock.

The mixture of all kinds of things, all kinds of beings - it's just like what we have here in this country.

The music becomes something that is its own entity.

The spirit of jazz is the spirit of openness.

The thing that we possess, that machines don't, is the ability to exhibit wisdom.

The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.

The value of music is to be able to play one note at the right time in the right way.

Then I would watch him improvise, and I would be fascinated by what he was doing.

There are a lot of records coming out, in every field of music, not just jazz.

There's only one person named Herbie Hancock.

We are eternally linked not just to each other but our environment.

We can all be ourselves, be true to ourselves, and all be together.

We decided it would be interesting to approach the music as a group solo.

We wanted to share creativity and didn't want to be bound by traditional jazz conventions.

When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn't I couldn't do my best.

When I was in my early teens, I remember coming to the conclusion that your life never ends.

When I was young I used to listen to everything.

When you struggle to reach for something you don't know, that's where the most interesting stuff is.

While knowledge may provide useful point of reference, it cannot become a force to guide the future.

Wisdom corresponds to the future; it is philosophy.

Wisdom is the key to understanding the age, creating the time.

Without wisdom, the future has no meaning, no valuable purpose.

You asked me before about being an innovator and I mentioned that I've always been some kind of leader.

You can practice to attain knowledge, but you can't practice to attain wisdom.

You can practice to learn a technique, but I'm more interested in conceiving of something in the moment.

You don't know what that's going to sound like; you just do it because the urge is there.

You don't need the fame to be vital.

You would not exist if you did not have something to bring to the table of life.