At the Democratic Convention in August, the last time Herbie Hancock had some face time with the future first couple, Michelle Obama “said some very nice things" about Hancock's last record, 2008's Grammy-winning album of the year River: The Joni Letters, an homage to Hancock's longtime friend, Joni Mitchell. “She said it helped her through some difficult times," says Hancock, dressed in black and wearing his signature smoky shades in the sunny atrium of his downtown hotel. “And that was great to hear."
After celebrating One Love with Sheryl Crow and will.i.am at Sunday's We Are One kick-off concert (he played his keyboard in the frigid air sans gloves his coldest-ever performance), he's teaming up with an equally eclectic voice at Feeding America's Martin Luther King Jr., rally on Monday Josh Groban. They're thinking of dueting on Imagine. (This performance, thankfully, is indoors.)
“I was hoping and praying that somehow I could be of service in some way," Hancock says about his inaugural duties (he's also attending the BET ball). “It's super important."
The jazz legend first met Barack Obama when he was a political upstart, at a fundraiser when he was running for Illinois state senator. Hancock's good friend Christie Hefner, the soon-to-be-former CEO of Playboy Enterprises (and daughter of Hugh Hefner), sent an e-mail saying, “I think you guys should meet because I think you guys would really hit it off."
They did. “What you see on television is what you get," Hancock says about Obama (they've met four times, and he's hoping the fifth will occur over the next couple of days). “He's a really nice, thoughtful, open and inclusive kind of person."
Hancock asked Obama a question at the fundraiser and “just loved" his “very holistic" answer. “It wasn't just his opinion. He always stated an opposing opinion or an opposing viewpoint and why someone might have the other viewpoint not that 'I'm the good guy and they're the bad guys.' But, 'there are different ways to look at it, and here's why I've chosen this way.' “
Of course, it helps that Obama, like Bill Clinton before him, is a jazz fan. “Jazz is back, with another Democrat," Hancock says, grinning. “It really is the music of America."
“I actually feel from (Obama) that he realizes the importance of culture and the arts to the human spirit," Hancock continues. The breadth and number of artists who have turned up in Washington is evidence that “music is so powerful these days," he says. “It's grown to be a pretty fantastic motivator."
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