Herbie Hancock, a multiple Grammy award winner, is acknowledged
as one of the great modern-jazz composers and a primary influence on
contemporary jazz piano playing. In the mid--1960s, Hancock was at the
creative center of the classic Miles Davis Quintet, a band whose musical
innovations helped redefine the landscape of jazz. Even before this, in
his early 20s, Hancock had recorded a number of albums, now considered
classics of the genre.
In the 1970s, Hancock's use of electronic keyboard instruments helped
pioneer the development of jazz-rock and other fusion styles. Since
then, as a creative innovator and explorer of new directions in music,
he has continued to break new ground in jazz as well as recording a
number of popular hits. His 1974 album, Headhunters
, is one of the largest-selling jazz albums of all time. In 1986 he won an Oscar for his score for the film 'Round Midnight
, in which he also had an acting role.
Hancock began practicing Buddhism and joined the SGI in 1972.
The SGI Quarterly
interviewed Hancock about his experience of living a creative life.
SGI Quarterly: Can you talk about what it means to live a creative life?
Herbie Hancock: At this point in my
life, my primary focus is not on the art form that my career has been
built around to date. What I focus on primarily is the real source--or
the purpose--that my art form, music, is about. That is, life itself.
At the foundation of artistic expression is the very core of life. So
what I'm finding is that the more I attempt to expand and develop my
life, the greater the impact is on my music. Music becomes a tool for
that expression. My focus is to practice this particular art form with
the hope that ultimately it will be a catalyst in the listeners'
appreciation of their own lives. My hope is not particularly that the
audience will be inspired by my music and put me on a pedestal. That's
not what it's about. I hope that somehow it triggers something within
themselves where they feel that their life has more meaning, substance
and inspiration. That they become more aware of something that is
already in them.
That's the hope. And I think that where one is "coming from" is
extremely important. Your vision for that pathway, your intention, is
very important.
SGIQ: There seems to be a big distance between what you are saying and the general understanding of creative talent, or genius.
HH: There is a tendency for people
to be very forgiving about the attitude of the artist, as long as the
artistic expression pleases them. They almost expect an artist to be a
little weird and a little egotistical, rude. But I'm very much against
that. One very strong realization that I have at this point is that the
most important art is one everyone is involved in, the art of living.
And that is the most difficult one, the most important one to master and
develop. And so everyone is an artist in that sense. This really helps
me in my own appreciation of the lives of others.
SGIQ: What did you learn working with great masters like Miles Davis?
HH: I've been speaking pretty
generally, but to be specific, there are certain characteristics that I
strive to be aware of as being very important, and one of them is
risk-taking. But, I have to add, with a sense of responsibility. Without
a sense of responsibility you can get yourself in a lot of trouble
taking risks.
Miles very much supported the idea of taking risks with the music.
That's what he wanted us to do. He wanted us to constantly try to work
on things, and constantly try to find new ways of expressing ourselves.
So he very much encouraged risk-taking. As a matter of fact, he wasn't
concerned at all about our mistakes. He was much more concerned about
the courage that it takes to make mistakes. When you're on the edge,
then you will make "mistakes"; if you're reaching for something, there
will be "mistakes"--it's not going to sound so perfect. But it's the
search and the honesty and the integrity that people can feel. They can
hear it and they can feel it in their hearts. And that is what touches
and moves them.
It is my Buddhist practice that is at the core of these realizations
that I've had. It has really opened my eyes to things that I have
observed and heard from my musical mentors. And I've been able to see
how the things I have learned about creating music can be applied to
life.
I've learned that any situation can be viewed from an infinite number
of vantage points. With Miles I got that through music. I learned that a
composition, a tune, a piece of music written by someone, is one
example, one expression, of an idea. A jazz musician can take that song
and, through the realization that it is an example, can create other
examples by looking for other ways to view the piece of music.
That concept can also be applied to daily life. There is a natural
tendency for us as human beings to see the situations that happen to us
from one vantage point. But what Buddhism teaches us, and what life
teaches us, is that a situation can be looked at in many, many different
ways. And the way we look at that situation, and how we deal with it as
a result of seeing it from other vantage points, can determine whether
that life situation is going to have a negative or a positive effect on
our future.
There are many things we get exposed to that at the outset appear to
be negative, appear to be an obstacle or a problem. "Why did this happen
to me?" That kind of reaction. But it is through those challenges that
one can develop a strong foundation, deeper roots and an appreciation of
one's own ability to overcome obstacles and to grow from them. This
gives one a sense of self-worth. We can actually come to appreciate the
obstacles themselves, and we can develop a deeper appreciation for our
own life. So challenges are really an opportunity to get us closer to
freedom. Real freedom is when you're not afraid of any situation that
might happen to you in the future.
SGIQ: Can you talk about the relationship between creativity and suffering?
HH: There is a tendency for people
to feel that an artist has to suffer, or pay his dues, in order to have a
message that can translate as feeling through his art form. I don't
deny the importance of having things to deal with in one's life, or how
these can be instrumental in stimulating the creative juices. But what I
realize at this point is that if you're striving hard to challenge
yourself, whether it is through your art form, or whatever kind of job
you may have, or with your family, or just the daily life that you live,
there is no way you can avoid experiencing suffering to some degree.
And it is through these sufferings and challenges that you can not only
stimulate the creative juices but also develop a sense of
self-sufficiency or autonomy. If you are not confronting such
situations, it means either that you're not challenging your life or
your art or that you're asleep, sleeping on the job, so to speak.
There is no one who can escape from suffering. Because materialism is
so rampant and out of balance today, there's a tendency to think that
if you're rich and you have the "right car," the "right job," a spouse
or a mate, all those trappings, then you can be happy. When in fact it
doesn't work that way. The most valuable qualities of life are
priceless; they cannot be bought or sold. And they have more to do with
recognizing that you can overcome situations in your life, recognizing
that obstacles are the means for growth in your life, with developing
compassion and appreciation for the people in your life, for the
environment that we live in. Developing courage. There are so many
important qualities that give life meaning and beauty and that dwarf
that kind of materialistic viewpoint. Of course we all do need to be
able to survive in life, but I think things have gone just too far in
the materialistic direction.
SGIQ: Technology is often seen as a dehumanizing force in society. Do you think it also has creative possibilities to offer?
HH: As far as I can tell, there
haven't been any real attempts to start a movement to explore the
possible uses of technology to address the real issues of everyday life,
the real problems. Like problems with peer pressure, man's inhumanity
toward man, social problems, problems with sexism, problems with drugs,
situations to do with sexual identity. All of the real things that
people have to deal with in everyday life. I haven't seen anybody really
attempt to explore the use of technology for those things. People in
the world of technology have a tendency to be dazzled by it. And they
think it is really helping the world--"Look how fast things are moving!"
But look at the newspapers. Look at the front page, look at the first
five pages. How many situations do you see in those first five pages
where technology is being used? Generally, the answer is "none" because
those possibilities haven't really been explored.
I've been noticing that quite often today you see the word
"knowledge" or the word "information," especially in this new
technological age. The word that seems to have disappeared from the
vocabulary is the word "wisdom." You never see that anymore.
What most concerns me is that the human being is no longer the
fulcrum, or the focus of life. It's somewhere low down on the list of
priorities. If human happiness is not at the top of our concerns, then
none of the other elements will have any meaning. What purpose is there
for technology unless it somehow serves the human spirit and our
relationship to the environment in which we live?
One of the initiatives that I've started is to explore the use of
technology to address these human issues and concerns. I've started a
foundation called the Rhythm of Life Foundation that will collect money
for individuals and organizations that are doing this. I started to
realize, once I embarked on that project, that I needed a means to
develop some examples. So we formed the Rhythm of Life Organization
(ROLO). Our first project is one we are conducting in the San Francisco
Bay Area with the acronym BAYCAT, Bay View-Hunter's Point Center for the
Arts and Technology. The idea for this school that we want to build is
not only to be able to give young people access to high-end computers
but also to teach them programming with the hope of encouraging them to
develop software that deals with the issues that they face in everyday
life. We want to encourage them to come up with new visions for the use
of technology.
If you think about it, the people who built the technological age are
now in the process of adapting to the age that they themselves built,
whereas people who were born into it don't have to adapt. It comes
naturally to them.
SGIQ: Why do you think it is important to work with young people?
HH: In the 1960s, a lot of major
changes were instigated by people in their early teens. What they did
really changed the world in many ways. I think that in the
not-too-distant future, if we are lucky, a very similar kind of
revolution can happen globally through the efforts of people in their
teens. I am afraid that if something like this does not happen, not only
is the future going to be rocky, but it will become more and more
dangerous.
One of the things that I have realized is that so many of the
problems that people have to face day-to-day are not problems created by
the "have-nots." They've been primarily created by the "haves."
Because, unlike the have-nots, the haves have been in the position to
have that kind of global impact.
To be honest, I consider myself one of the haves. I'm one of the
fortunate ones in life, on the planet. But there is a tendency for
people who might be considered the haves to think that the have-nots
have nothing to bring to the table of life. The haves, with all of their
philanthropic intentions, are often coming from a position of
arrogance, thinking that they are the only ones who have the capacity to
bring anything to the table. There is a tendency for the haves to feel
inherently superior to the have-nots, thinking that the have-nots are
stupid, not bright enough. But what they don't realize is that it is not
the have-nots who have created the problems for the world
What we need is to create a table of life where everyone is
encouraged to bring whatever it is that they may have to offer. You can
never tell where the next great concepts can come from. It may be from
any place on the planet, including those places that are ignored,
forgotten or even looked down upon. Unless we provide a means so that
everyone may come to the table of life to bring what they have to offer,
we can never experience the advantage of their impact in helping move
life forward.
Very often the have-nots, in order to survive and overcome, have had
to learn certain lessons in life. The haves may need that kind of
creativity, wisdom and vision. Part of the undercurrent of ideas for the
Rhythm of Life Organization comes from this kind of realization. The
fact that on this planet we all need each other. And we need to help put
each other in the position to provide the things we all need to move
forward together.
Source: SGI Quarterly (April 2001)
