Opening Night: Herbie Hancock

June 5, 2022

SummerStage

To open this year’s festival, SummerStage calls upon the legendary pianist Herbie Hancock, who after six decades behind the keys remains at the forefront of world culture, technology, humanity, and music. Hancock helped break the mold in jazz as a member of Miles Davis’ quintet, fused electric jazz with funk and rock on his solo albums in the 70s (Headhunters), and simultaneously explored electronic dance music (“Rockit” and “Future Shock”) and acoustic sounds with former Miles Davis bandmates Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams in V.S.O.P. He’s won an Oscar and more than a dozen GRAMMYs, and currently serves as Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. He’s joined by Keyon Harrold, a trumpeter from Ferguson, Missouri, who has established himself as a force not only in New York City’s contemporary jazz scene, but in modern hip-hop and R&B as well. He’s featured on recordings by the likes of Common, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, 50 Cent, Mac Miller, and Mary J. Blige, to name just a few.

There will also be a side stage performance by Asha “DaHomey” Griffith.

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