Herbie Hancock

Thursday, Sept 27-Saturday, Sept 29

“Berklee College of Music announces a star-shining lineup for the 7th Annual BeanTown Jazz Festival, September 27-29, at various locations around Boston. In its second year of producing the festival, Berklee will bring Grammy-winning, internationally renowned superstars and cornerstones of the Boston jazz scene together on a number of stages in free and ticketed offerings that last year drew upwards of 50,000 people.”   - Berklee College of Music

This growing jazz festival is still a little known diamond in the rough, but this year’s unprecedented cast of characters and new sponsors are threatening to take this gathering of virtuous vibes mainstream. Beginning with a pre-festival warm-up at the Beehive on Thursday night, a star-studded show at Symphony Hall on Friday night and an action packed indoor/outdoor extravaganza all day Saturday. In this week’s issue of the Mass Media we will profile two headliners from the Friday night show. Next week’s issue will feature profiles and interviews with up and coming acts performing throughout the day on Saturday including 28 year old Herbie Hancock protégé, lead trumpeter of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra Sean Jones, and eclectic Martha’s Vineyard-based group Entrain.

Herbie Hancock The career of this modern musical icon spans five decades and five continents, but his contributions to the development of jazz and R&B transcend time and space, residing somewhere in a dimension called funk. From innovations in style and substance to advances in music production technology, Herbie Hancock has been pushing the limits of jazz composition since the birth of cool. Born in Chicago in 1940, Hancock was a child piano prodigy who performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the tender age of 11. Influenced by Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans as a high school student, Hancock began to play jazz. Around the same time, he began to develop an interest in electronic science, which led to an eventual double major in music and electrical engineering at Grinnell College. After his first super hit “Watermelon Man,” Hancock went on to work with Miles Davis before taking off as a solo artist. He has won eight grammys in the past two decades as well as an Academy Award for his soundtrack to the film Round Midnight. Considered by Miles Davis to be the natural heir to the throne of Thelonious Monk, he continues to experiment with both electronic and acoustic jazz, both on tour and in the studio to this day. Hancock will be headlining the legendary cast of characters on stage at the Friday night performance of the festival

Roy Haynes Thelonious Monk once described Roy Haynes’ drumming as “an eight-ball right in the side pocket.” For more than 50 years Haynes has shaped some of the greatest recordings in jazz from behind his beat makers and rump shakers. The list of artists he has collaborated with is staggering, among them Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughn, Miles Davis, John Coltraine, Dizzy Gillespie, Lennie Tristano, Stan Getz, Chick Corea, and Pat Methany. At almost 80 years old, Haynes has been testing the boundaries of music and father-time all at once. Any opportunity to see his rare genius on display is a gift from above. So, don’t miss this one to see a master in action.

Also Featuring… Branford Marsalis Jon Faddis Joe Lovano Lizz Wright Geri Allen Regina Carter Toshiko Akiyoshi Lew Tabackin Kenny Werner Howard Alden Jimmy Cobb Ray Drummond And more…

Roy Haynes