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Herbie
Hancock
displays
imagination
at Chene
Park
Concert.
By Karen
Fox/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT,
MI (Tell
Us Det)
- Herbie
Hancock
has been
a
musical
chameleon
over his
nearly
five
decades
in the
music
business.
Many of
those
shades
-- and a
few more
-- were
on
display
Wednesday
night
when he
brought
his
"Imagine
Project"
to Chene
Park.
He was
smart
enough
to let
the
music do
much of
the
talking,
though
at one
point he
did
preach a
gospel
of world
peace
through
globalization,
the
concept
of the
album he
released
two
months
ago.
After
all, his
music is
what the
half-full
audience
came to
hear.
On the
opening
number,
"Actual
Proof,"
drummer
and
Brownsville
native
Vinnie
Colaiuta
and
bassist
Pino
Palladino
laid
down a
groove
that
just
wouldn't
quit.
Guitarist
Lionel
Loueke
played
mostly
fingerstyle
and used
effects
pedals
throughout
to
simulate
synthesizer
lines.
"It's
dangerous
up
here,"
Mr.
Hancock
said
afterward
and,
considering
the
personnel,
I
wouldn't
disagree
one bit.
For
"Imagine,"
which
inspired
the
project
in the
first
place,
vocalist
Kristina
Train
and duet
partner
Detroit
naitive
Greg
Phillinganes,
also the
second
keyboardist,
took the
song to
places
the late
John
Lennon
probably
never
imagined.
(Photo
by Karen
Fox/Tell
Us
Detroit)
An
interesting
combination
proved
to be "Tamatant
Tilay,"
originally
by the
Mali
group
Tinariwen,
with Bob
Marley's
"Exodus";
while I
had
heard
neither
song
before
Tuesday,
they fit
together
well.
Mr.
Hancock
promised,
and
delivered,
a medley
of old
material.
During
his solo
"unplugged"
segment
he
performed
snippets
of
"Maiden
Voyage,"
"Dolphin
Dance,"
'Round
Midnight"
-- which
featured
some
violin
from Ms.
Train --
and
"Speak
Like a
Child"
before
the band
roared
into the
Latin-funk
of
"Cantaloupe
Island.”
If there
was a
segment
that
didn't
quite go
as
planned,
it was
the
attempted
interspersing
of Bob
Dylan's
"The
Times
They Are
a-Changin'
" and
the song
it
inspired,
Sam
Cooke's
"A
Change
Is Gonna
Come,"
vocals
handled
by Mr.
Phillinganes.
On the
former,
Ms.
Train
attempted
to play
and sing
simultaneously,
but I
don't
think
that
combination
worked
well --
perhaps
she
forgot
the
lyrics,
which
for that
rendition
were
translated
into
Irish
Gaelic.
Things
closed
with the
gospel-influenced
"Space
Captain,"
with the
insistent
refrain
"Learning
to live
together"
-- which
was the
theme of
both the
evening
and the
project.
But it
wasn't
quite
over.
Mr.
Hancock
and
company
saved
the best
for the
encore,
kicking
off the
funk-rock
classic
"Chameleon"
offstage
on his "keytar,"
a
keyboard
strapped
to him
like a
guitar,
and
getting
the
band, as
well as
the
audience,
rocking.
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