Herbie Hancock at the Barbican, review — a gripping crowd-raiser

Herbie Hancock has spent half a century blending acoustic alchemy with cutting-edge electronics and successfully navigating the fine line between art and commerce. His powerful light-touch lines, immaculate sense of time and controlled dynamics remain the dominant influence on mainstream jazz piano.

This gripping crowd-raising gig, the opening night of the EFG London Jazz Festival’s four-day Summer Series, found his sense of purpose undimmed at 82. New material was mixed in with warhorse favourites, but, as with all Hancock gigs, you were never quite sure where things were heading. The band’s personality and solo strength played their part. But mostly the sense of discovery was due to the new angles Hancock continues to find, and the way he pushes his band to the edge. “It’s going to be whatever it is,” said Hancock, as though unlocking a secret hoard.

The evening started with “Overture”, a medley of briefly savoured themes launched by a long-sustained abstraction of electronic sound. “Mr Hands” was in there, “Butterfly” too. Piano soared over funky bass, trumpet and guitar solos impressed, and moods changed on cue. Wayne Shorter’s 1966 composition “Footprints” followed, arranged by trumpeter Terence Blanchard into a sparse contemporary cut. And then the lyrical theme, tricky harmonies and rhythmic precision of “Actual Proof”, a chance for the band to jam, and new grooves created in the moment.

Hancock’s laissez-faire approach depends on superb musicianship, but it succeeds because of collective discipline. Blanchard’s solos delivered emotional power while Lionel Loueke conjured panoramic soundscapes from his effects-laden guitar. But it was the band’s acute sense of time and seamless, densely textured sonics that defined the evening’s success.

The surprising highlight came mid-set, “Come Running to Me”, a vocoder-enhanced hit from the 1978 album Sunlight which, Hancock explained, he has only recently started playing live. “Technology has caught up,” he said, launching a masterly performance of funky highs and synthesised vocals that at times conjured a resonating blend of cathedral organ and barbershop quartet.

A medley of new tunes followed, listed as “Secret Sauce” and then “Phoelux”, from Loueke’s pen. Solos unfolded over crisply minted rhythms, drummer Justin Tyson dazzled with new-generation beats and bass guitarist James Genus, unassuming and rock-solid in support, delivered a whisper-quiet complexity of moody strums and plangent lines.

“Cantaloupe Island” ended the set, with Hancock on keytar adding new melodies and reordered beats. The encore, “Chameleon”, left the audience rising once more as one.

★★★★★

Vocals, undoctored, were a strong presence at the SF Jazz Collective’s series-closing gig. The nine-piece repertory ensemble, currently under the directorship of saxophonist Chris Potter, now blends the contrasting, pitch-perfect voices of Gretchen Parlato and Martin Luther McCoy into their measured jazz aesthetic — Parlato, breathy, understated and powered from within; McCoy, subtle, soulful and always in command.

The performance brought the band’s current project, New Works Reflecting the Moment, vividly to life. Abbey Lincoln’s “Throw it Away” and a brave jazz-meets-soul arrangement of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” were covers; the remainder was original work inspired by current events. Pianist Edward Simon’s “8’46”” marked the death of George Floyd; Potter composed “Can You See” the day after the Capitol Hill riot.

Highlights in a performance that never flagged included dramatic Potter tenor sax, urbane Kendrick Scott drums and the shimmering sound of vocals blending with brass. The funky “Already Died for Her” ended the set, brought to a spine-tingling close by McCoy’s sustained high-tenor voice. The two singers combined sweetly on the encore, “All There Inside”, and then Sly Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher” was cannily scripted into a house-shaking funky jam.

★★★★☆

efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk

Herbie Hancock plays the Edinburgh International Festival on August 7