Words matter. These are the best Herbie Hancock Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I’ve never really been interested in doing a solo piano tour.
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.
The value of music is to be able to play one note at the right time in the right way.
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.
Hip-hop is all over the planet.
I am not fundamentally a musician, I am fundamentally a human being.
At a certain point, I became a kind of musician that has tunnel vision about jazz. I only listened to jazz and classical music.
All you have to do is play one note. But it needs to be the right note.
I’ve had a life that has taken many interesting paths. I’ve learned a lot from mentors who were instrumental in shaping me, and I want to share what I’ve learned.
I think I was supposed to play jazz.
Music truly is the universal language.
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.
Miles’ sessions were not typical of anybody else’s sessions. They were totally unique.
One thing I like about jazz is that it emphasized doing things differently from what other people were doing.
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.
It’s part of life to have obstacles. It’s about overcoming obstacles; that’s the key to happiness.
I’m always looking to create new avenues or new visions of music.
The spirit of jazz is the spirit of openness.
Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.
The Internet opens up a whole new range of possibilities in a wide range of areas.
Creativity and artistic endeavors have a mission that goes far beyond just making music for the sake of music.
I just express myself in any way I feel is appropriate at the moment.
We need to move into a culture of peace. What I hope to promote is the idea that we all need each other and that the greatest happiness in life is not how much we have but how much we give. That’s a wealth that’s priceless. You can’t buy compassion.
I try stuff. I synthesize what’s of value with some of the other things I have at my disposal.
Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.
You would not exist if you did not have something to bring to the table of life.
It is people’s hearts that move the age.
To my wife, I’m not Herbie Hancock the musician. I’m her husband. When I’m talking to a neighbor, I’m a neighbor. When I vote, I’m a citizen.
Take whatever happens and try to make it work.
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.
Creativity shouldn’t be following radio; it should be the other way around.
Forget about trying to compete with someone else. Create your own pathway. Create your own new vision.
Nobody told me I was a child prodigy.
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.
I think there’s a great beauty to having problems. That’s one of the ways we learn.
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.
But, the truth is that everyone is somebody already.
It’s not exclusive, but inclusive, which is the whole spirit of jazz.
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.
Getting the Oscar had the biggest impression on me.
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.
In the past, there’s always been one leader that has led the pack to development of the music.
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.
It’s not the style that motivates me, as much as an attitude of openness that I have when I go into a project.
Music is not the only reason that I practice Buddhism anymore because it has affected my whole life.
