Herbie Hancock. Photo by Douglas Kirkland.
Featuring Terence Blanchard (trumpet), James Genus (bass), Lionel Loueke (guitar, vocals), and Jaylen Petinaud (drums).
Herbie Hancock is an iconic American jazz pianist, composer, keyboardist, and bandleader. His first professional performance was the first movement of a Mozart piano concerto at a young people’s concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1952 at age 11. During his teenage years he developed his “ear” and sense of harmony by listening to recordings of popular jazz pianists. Since then, he has consistently followed and redefined the modern jazz movement by bridging the gap between acoustic jazz, jazz fusion, funk, electronic music, and hip-hop. He has released over 40 studio albums and appeared in or scored a dozen movies. He has written two books and released six concert films. Among his many honors are 14 Grammy Awards (including for Album of the Year and Lifetime Achievement), an Academy Award for Best Original Score, a Kennedy Center Honor, and several honorary doctorates. He is currently a professor of jazz music at UCLA, serves as chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, and continues to record and tour.
…outstanding…
Hancock is known for selecting band members who have a deep knowledge of jazz traditions and a fearless willingness to experiment. He forms a collaborative laboratory rather than a back-up group. More than just playing notes, they listen and actively respond to spontaneous changes mid-song. This tour features a career-spanning set list blending hard-bop classics, jazz-funk masterpieces, and high energy, electro-funk medleys.
The performance started out with a continuous medley of his most famous compositions and riffs, followed by “Footprints,” a tribute to his longtime friend and collaborator, the late Wayne Shorter and “Watermelon Man,” a definitive, hard-bop standard from his 1962 debut album, “Takin’ Off.”
Each of the selections involved solos by each band member, with Hancock playing alternately the piano and the Korg Kronos, a keyboard which mimics the nuanced sound of an acoustic grand piano. He also uses a Roland Vocoder, a specialized keyboard that morphs his and Mr. Loueke’s live vocal lines into synthesized chord structures. To “duel” with his guitarists, he frequently steps out from behind these instruments and straps on a keytar, a lightweight, portable keyboard worn over the shoulder with a strap. In addition to trumpet, Mr. Blanchard also plays a synthesizer. The acoustic instruments provide jazz styling and melodic solos. The synthesizers provide the spacey, atmospheric sounds and heavy, funk basslines.
The show continued with “Actual Proof,” a fast-paced, rhythmically complex, funk-fusion masterpiece, and “Butterfly,” a dreamy, atmospheric jazz-funk ballad which allowed for deep, experimental exploration by the band members. Individual band solos were also showcased in “Secret Sauce,” a modern improvisational track. The final number was a high energy electro-funk medley of “Hang Up Your Hang-Ups,” “Rockit,” and “Spider.”
The audience response was overwhelming, with loud cheering, clapping, shouting, and standing ovations. The band responded with an explosive encore of his signature anthem, “Chameleon,” featuring Hancock on the keytar. This outstanding event is only one of many presented in the new “Live at the Meyerhoff” summer series. The series will continue throughout the season in conjunction with the BSO series of classical and popular concerts. Subscribers will have a hard time choosing from such diverse musical events, so be sure to be one of them!
Running Time: One hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.
“Herbie Hancock Summer Tour 2026” ran on July 28, 2026, at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral Street, Baltimore MD 21201. For information and to purchase tickets for upcoming events, please contact the Box Office at 410-783-8000 Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and on Saturday/Sunday from 12 noon to 5 pm or go online. The Box Office is also open one hour before the performance and through intermission for walk-up sales.
