Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis

MY interest in Herbie Hancock’s music has ranged over the years, but it has not so much gone up and down as much as side to side. I first heard, and loved, the funky stuff. Later I discovered his years with Miles, and then, still later, his Bill Evans-y solo records like Speak Like a Child and Empyrean Isles. My sense of his best and most enduring music varies, but Hancock remains among the most fascinating and protean living musicians.

In any case, Hancock, who I interviewed a few days ago, comes to the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday in a bill that includes titan of the saxophone Kamasi Washington. (Fun/ pointless fact: I am working on Hancock’s song Maiden Voyage in my jazz-guitar lessons. It’s profound — and not as easy as I’d hoped.)

My interview, in the LA Weekly, and with a great anecdote about Miles, is here.