Herbie Hancock Quotes

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.

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.

Jazz has been the voice of freedom for so many countries over the past half century.

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.

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.

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

I am not fundamentally a musician, I am fundamentally a human being.

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

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.

The true artform is being a human being.

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

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

I don't look at music from the standpoint of being a musician; I look at it from the standpoint of being a human being.

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

Life is not about finding our limitations, it's about finding our infinity.

But, the truth is that everyone is somebody already.

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.

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

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

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

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.

Most people define themselves by what they do - 'I'm a musician.' Then one day it occurred to me that I'm only a musician when I'm playing music - or writing music, or talking about music. I don't do that 24 hours a day. I'm also a father, a son, a husband, a citizen - I mean, when I go to vote, I'm not thinking of myself as 'a musician.'

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.

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

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

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

I'm one of the people who was a pioneer in encouraging musicians, early in the game, to get interested in technology, and now all the musicians are getting into it.

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

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.

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

Wisdom corresponds to the future; it is philosophy.

Jazz is a music that is open enough to borrow from any other form of music, and has the strength to influence any other form of music.

I don't view myself as a musician anymore - I view myself as a human being that functions as a musician when I'm functioning as a musician, but that's not 24 hours a day. That's really opened me up to even more perspectives because now I look at music, not from the standpoint of being a musician, but from the standpoint of being a human being.

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

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

I have to care and I have to be honest and have the courage to be vulnerable. If that happens, then that's the best I can do. To just be a puppet for the audience is not very courageous. Just to do whatever they say they want - because a lot of times people will hear something new that they hadn't heard before and get turned on by a new experience and will want to hear more of that.

I keep recycling and repackaging music that I've done in the past, as though I can't write anymore. Like, okay, I'm done with that. But I need to kind of prod myself again into come on, Herbie, get off your duff and start writing some new music.

I spent five years, at least, working with Miles. Together, we recorded ESP, Nefertiti, Sorcerer -- and I can tell you; each of these albums instantly became jazz classics. Hey, we had Wayne Shorter playing tenor sax, Ron [Carter] on bass, Tony Williams played drums. That was great band we had.

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. But to allow you to trust not only yourself but trust others means - is what's required to be vulnerable, and to have that kind of trust takes courage.

It is people's hearts that move the age.

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

It might be something as simple as saying the right word to the right person at the right time-and that could change the course of history. You never really know. But the whole thing is to work at the process of being in sync with the universe, so that everything will align at the proper time so that you can deliver that which is your life mission. And that's why we're here as individuals. And then there's our contribution to the collective. It makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

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

The most valuable things in life are priceless. They are courage, compassion, wisdom, respect for ourselves and others, and a host of characteristics that we call the beauty of the human spirit.

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

I've always been interested in science. I used to take watches apart and clocks apart, and there's little screws, and a little this and that, and I found out if I dropped one of them, that thing ain't gonna work.

I don't think there are any pure Africans of the African Americans, but the African part of our history was pretty much taken away from us during slavery, so the 60s gave us a chance, because of the civil rights movement, to kind of re-examine and make some sort of formal connection to our African-ness.

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