Herbie Hancock Quotes & Sayings

The Internet opens up a whole new range of possibilities in a wide range of areas. — Herbie Hancock

When I was young I used to listen to everything. — Herbie Hancock

The cool thing is that jazz is really a wonderful example of the great characteristics of Buddhism and great characteristics of the human spirit. Because in jazz we share, we listen to each other, we respect each other, we are creating in the moment. At our best, we're non-judgmental. — Herbie Hancock

Without wisdom, the future has no meaning, no valuable purpose. — Herbie Hancock

Jazz is about being in the moment. — Herbie Hancock

There's so much spontaneity involved, what do you practice? How do you practice teamwork? How do you practice sharing? How do you practice daring? How do you practice being nonjudgmental? — Herbie Hancock

Buddhism has turned me on to my humanness, and is challenging my humanness so that I can become more human. — Herbie Hancock

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

Fact is that I played piano and performed, as a young kid, a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra . Don't forget I was only eleven-years-old and to be on the stage at that age had tremendous impact on me. Basically love for classical music and performing as a kid on the big stage probably led toward this decision, which meant that music is going to be my big love but also my profession. — Herbie Hancock

You can expand, repeat, even change keys and do other things electronically to give certain elements and phrases more cohesiveness. — Herbie Hancock

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

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

I'm not special, no more special than anybody else. — Herbie Hancock

I try to practice with my life. — Herbie Hancock

I hope to use dialogue and culture as a means of bringing people of various cultures together, and using that as a way to resolve conflict. — Herbie Hancock

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

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

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

I think people have learned that Herbie Hancock can be defined as someone that you won't be able to figure out what he's going to do next. The sky is the limit as far as I'm concerned. — Herbie Hancock

Technology has developed to a whole other level and theres the scientist part of me that loves that stuff. — Herbie Hancock

Music is not the only reason that I practice Buddhism anymore because it has affected my whole life. — Herbie Hancock

It's not easy to play in a framework that requires simplicity and to tastefully find ways to interject the kind of freedom that we have in playing jazz. — Herbie Hancock

When I was six, my best friend's parents bought him a piano. My mother noticed that every time I would go to his house, the first thing I would say to him was 'Levester' - His name was Levester - I said, 'Levester, can I go play your piano?' So, on my 7th birthday, my parents bought me a piano. — Herbie Hancock

I think risk-taking is a great adventure. And life should be full of adventures. — Herbie Hancock

When you talk about 'doing the work', that's the work I'm interested in. What can I contribute as a human being? — Herbie Hancock

Being vulnerable is allowing yourself to trust. That's hard for a lot of people to do. They feel a lot more secure if they kind of put walls around themselves. Then they don't have to trust anybody but themselves. — Herbie Hancock

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

Don't be afraid to expand yourself, to step out of your comfort zone. That's where the joy and the adventure lie. — Herbie Hancock

We need to put into practice the idea of embracing other cultures. We need to be shaping the kind of world we want to live in instead of waiting for someone else or some other entities to do it for us. — Herbie Hancock

I like to be on the edge, on the cutting edge, or be into the unknown, into the territory where I have to depend on being in the moment and depending on my instincts. — Herbie Hancock

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

Sometimes you have to create a vision, a path for a vision. It may not be apparent, and you may have to forge it yourself. And that will be the way to move your life forward. — Herbie Hancock

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

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

You can change your character and, at the same time, change your fortune. — Herbie Hancock

I like to present something that the people haven't seen or haven't heard before. Otherwise they might as well just stay home and play the record. — Herbie Hancock

When the suggestion was made that I might consider doing music of Joni Mitchell, I thought it was a fantastic idea. Joni, I admire not only for her music but for her person, because she's a person that really stands out for what she believes in. — Herbie Hancock

I've been curious ever since I was a little kid. — Herbie Hancock

Wisdom corresponds to the future; it is philosophy. — Herbie Hancock

I don't mind being classified as a jazz artist, but I do mind being restricted to being a jazz artist. My foundation has been in jazz, though I didn't really start out that way. I started in classical music, but my formative years were in jazz, and it makes a great foundation. — Herbie Hancock

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

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

I hope that I can make good music out of whatever genre I go into. Just to prove to myself that I can. — Herbie Hancock

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

Nobody told me I was a child prodigy. — Herbie Hancock

Take whatever happens and try to make it work. — Herbie Hancock

Music isn't about music, it's about life. — Herbie Hancock

The music becomes something that is its own entity. — Herbie Hancock

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

So much of what I create has been due to the influence of Miles Davis and Donald Byrd, and so many of those that have passed on. Their music, their legacy lives on with the rest of us because we are so highly influenced by their experience and what they have given us. — Herbie Hancock

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

All you have to do is play one note. But it needs to be the right note. — Herbie Hancock

One of the greatest experiences I ever had was listening to a conversation with Joni Mitchell and Wayne Shorter. Just to hear them talking, my mouth was open. They understand each other perfectly, and they make these leaps and jumps because they don't have to explain anything. — Herbie Hancock

You don't need the fame to be vital. — Herbie Hancock

I've never really been interested in doing a solo piano tour. — Herbie Hancock

It's part of life to have obstacles. It's about overcoming obstacles; that's the key to happiness. — Herbie Hancock

Oscar Peterson is the greatest living influence on jazz pianists today. — Herbie Hancock

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

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

A great teacher is one who realizes that he himself is also a student and whose goal is not dictate the answers, but to stimulate his students' creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves. — Herbie Hancock

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

I like the idea of an eclectic approach, incorporating jazz with other forms and other genres of music. — Herbie Hancock

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

I wonder where she came from,
I wonder where she's gotta go.
Who's to say she's single
and who's to say she's on her own ...
Girls like that don't sleep alone — Herbie Hancock

Forget about trying to compete with someone else. Create your own pathway. Create your own new vision. — Herbie Hancock

There is no such thing as art," he said. "There is only this painting, this piece of music, that sculpture. And it either resonates with you or it doesn't." He paused for a moment and then added, "There is no such thing as art, there are only works."
... In those two moments, Antonioni taught me something profound. — Herbie Hancock

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

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

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

Getting the Oscar had the biggest impression on me. — Herbie Hancock

I'm very conscious of the idea of trying to each time present something that I haven't presented before. It's a challenge to me to find something new, to find something innovative, but it's also very exciting. — Herbie Hancock

Each human being exists because there's something they have to offer for the evolution of the universe that only they can fulfill. — Herbie Hancock

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

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

World peace is no longer some pie-in-the-sky thing, because no single person or country is going to solve it on their own. — Herbie Hancock

It's easy to get sidetracked with technology, and that is the danger, but ultimately you have to see what works with the music and what doesn't. In a lot of cases, less is more. In most cases, less is more. — Herbie Hancock

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

Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept. He and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were. — Herbie Hancock

I got a chance to work with Miles Davis, and that changed everything for me, 'cause Miles really encouraged all his musicians to reach beyond what they know, go into unknown territory and explore. It's made a difference to me and the decisions that I've made over the years about how to approach a project in this music. — Herbie Hancock

You make different colors by combining those colors that already exist. — Herbie Hancock

I just express myself in any way I feel is appropriate at the moment. — Herbie Hancock

As a human being, I'm concerned about the world that I live in. So, I'm concerned about peace. I'm concerned about - about man's inhumanity to man. I'm concerned about the environment. — Herbie Hancock

Jazz has been the voice of freedom for so many countries over the past half century, — Herbie Hancock

It's part of my nature. I get excited when trying out new stuff, whether it be an idea or equipment. It stimulates my juices. — Herbie Hancock

The strongest thing that any human being has going is their own integrity and their own heart. As soon as you start veering away from that, the solidity that you need in order to be able to stand up for what you believe in and deliver what's really inside, it's just not going to be there. — Herbie Hancock

I don't go around, the way many musicians do, with earbuds in my ear listening to my iPod all day and just sticking my head in the music all the time. — Herbie Hancock

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

Life is not about finding your limitations; it's about finding your infinity. — Herbie Hancock

In the world of Art there are no wrong choices. — Herbie Hancock

We can all be ourselves, be true to ourselves, and all be together. — Herbie Hancock

So in other words, we were constantly challenged to grow, and thats what a master does. — Herbie Hancock

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

I don't see how we can have both the freedoms we had before and the safety net that we all need considering the way the world is today. And that's just because human beings can't trust each other. We've given in over and over to some of the darkest elements that exist in life itself. — Herbie Hancock

I started off with classical music, and I got into jazz when I was about 14 years old. And I've been playing jazz ever since. — Herbie Hancock

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

Jazz to me is the spirit of freedom. I mean real freedom. Freedom to explore. Freedom to express. Freedom to pour out your guts. — Herbie Hancock

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language — Herbie Hancock

My hope is that the music will serve as a metaphor for the actions taken by the inhabitants of this wonderful planet as a call for world harmony on all levels. — Herbie Hancock

Jazz translates the moment into a sense of inspiration for not only the musicians but for the listeners. — Herbie Hancock

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