This year’s Abu Dhabi Festival runs under the theme of creative innovation. It was realised in a masterful performance by Herbie Hancock at a sold-out performance at the Emirates Palace on Friday, March 21. Aided by his cracking three-piece band, Hancock took the crowd on a jazz and funk odyssey blending history with the futuristic.
Hancock’s piano set-up was akin to a cockpit of a spaceship: the 73-year-old jazz legend was surrounded by a grand piano and synthesisers linked to five iPads used to change beats or add layers.
The gadgets were handy in the muscular funk opener Actual Proof. The syncopated beats by the drummer Vinnie Colaiuta were buttressed by the smooth basslines of James Genus. Meanwhile, Hancock kept darting between lush piano notes to chilly synth riffs as the guitarist Lionel Loueke kept it funky with wah-wah effects.
The effervescent Watermelon Man was up next and it segued in and out of the Loueke-composed Seven Teens.
With the latter's scat-heavy flavours and Watermelon Man's tropical melodies, in addition to Colaiuta's deft tempo changes, the 15-minute piece was heady stuff.
The Emirati rising star Hamdan Al Abri was then introduced and, with the band, launched into a sublime rendering of Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come.
It was his biggest moment — and the Dubai singer lived up to expectations. Al Abri’s husky tones soared over the band’s supple accompaniment, with Hancock giving the singer a proud thumbs up at the end of the song.
Hancock then returned with the airy jam Come Running to Me. Listening to the track unfold, one couldn't help but appreciate Hancock's influence on modern hip-hop. Hancock's ghostly melodies, delivered through a vocoder, show the effect he had on seminal rap crews such as Slum Village and Kanye West's acclaimed 2008 release 808s & Heartbreak.
Cantaloupe Island closed off the set with Hancock and the band taking turns to address the song's different motifs.
Genus revelled in those bobbing basslines, while Hancock took his time to explore the melancholic melodies that seem to lurk beneath those buoyant grooves.
Speaking after the encore of the funk-double Rock It and Chameleon, Al Abri described performing with Hancock as "an out-of-body experience".
“I felt like I had to pinch myself during and afterwards just to make sure I was actually there at that moment,” he said. “It’s amazing to meet your idols because you love their music, but when you actually share a stage with them and realise they’re such amazing, humble human beings, it’s a priceless experience.”
It was Hancock’s advice to Al Abri before taking the stage that best describes his musical approach: “He said if it felt good and if it felt right then go enjoy yourself and have fun with it.”
sasaeed@thenational.ae
