What a privilege and well-earned pleasure Herbie Hancock's life has been thus far. In his not quite 75 years on this planet, the jazz giant has seen and played with them all. Well, almost all. In today's installation of OKP TV, a brand new segment we like to call That Time, the legend takes us back to 1963, when Miles Davis was everything and everywhere--including the other end of Hancock's telephone, having put in a call to young Herbie and requesting his presence in his basement rec room for a jam. The intimidation factor was undoubtedly high, but what Miles showed Hancock was something the uncompromising genius is not generally known for--namely, empathy, a quality Herbie only discerned in Miles' habit of leaving the audition/jam sessions in a huff years later, when he learned that Miles had been intentionally removing himself from the equation and listening in via intercom to hear his players at their unguarded best.
Classic Miles. And while Miles x Herbie certainly tops the list when it comes to game-changing musical collaborations, it was Hancock's revelation of a collaboration that never happened which really rearranged our brainframe during this conversation, videotaped during rehearsal's for his Grammy performance with Ed Sheeran. Miles again plays a pivotal role in the story, specifically his later explorations in disjointed, chaotic funk fusion (Bitches Brew, On The Corner) which brought him more into the sphere of the six-string gawd, Jimi Hendrix.
Watch Herbie tell the it in his own words below (and imagine the purple fusion that might have been). Get more on Herbie's first meeting with Miles via Revive, as well as his new tour with collaborator (and friend) Chick Corea, launching tomorrow night in Seattle at the Paramount Theater, where the two legendary ivory-smashers will be performing in tandem, introducing synthesizers to the typically acoustic affair (scroll down for full dates).
>>>Watch More Herbie Hancock On Miles Davis (via Revive)
