Montreux Jazz Festival Japan: Day 1 – Herbie Hancock Set (2024)

MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL JAPAN: DAY 1
Music composed by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and friends 
Piano, keyboard & keytar: Herbie Hancock
Trumpet & keyboard: Terence Blanchard 
Guitar: Lionel Loueke
Bass: James Genus
Drums: Jaylen Petinaud
December 6, 2024
Pia Arena MM
Yokohama, Japan

PART 1: WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT

BOOM.

There just aren’t enough superlatives to describe last night’s tremendous first day at the Montreux Jazz Festival Japan with Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts.

Yep, you read that right – Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts.

Never in a million years could I have imagined a live performance from this incredible line up of artists in one evening on the same stage.  But sure enough, that is exactly what happened last night, and as expected, EVERY soloist was on fire. And EVERY member of the audience went home satisfied and feeling cool.

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The first set had Kanno and the Seatbelts performing selections from her eclectic soundtrack catalogue including the iconic COWBOY BEBOP and GHOST IN THE SHELL: STAND ALONE COMPLEX.

This was followed by the legendary Herbie Hancock and his band who are all legends in their own right.

For this report, I will focus on the second set of the evening that featured Hancock and his band.  

I know that this is a review site for “soundtracks” in concert, but I felt it necessary to include this review as Blanchard is an established film composer in his own right, with Hancock himself having dabbled in film scoring – and even winning an Oscar for it along the way!

(My report on the first set with Kanno and the Seatbelts can be found here)

PART 2: FROM FUN TO STUPENDOUS

While Kanno’s set was fun and familiar, Hancock’s set was cool and downright stupendous.

Performed by a handful of the best and hottest jazz artists of today, I can confidently say that it was the most wildly satisfying jazz performance I have ever seen. Every soloist gave a performance worthy of the highest accolades, and I know I wasn’t the only one thirsting for more when the set came to an end.

PART 3: PREHISTORIC MUSIC

As a kind of prologue to the concert proper, the set kicked off with something Hancock said would “sound weird,” and weird it most definitely was.

Synthetic and acoustic sounds evoking a primitive and prehistoric era filled the auditorium, with guitarist Lionel Loueke adding to the vibes with some unusual techniques on his guitar to produce otherworldly sounds.

This soon gave way to the sounds of the modern era with the arrival of Blanchard’s trumpet and more tonal and digestible melodies from the band.

PART 4: OVERTURE

An “Overture” would now be played containing short snippets from Hancock’s vast body of work. 

To be honest, I’m not familiar enough with his entire catalogue to name which pieces were played, but I did recognize a few and they sounded fantastic. There was one moment during the overture that Hancock was playing both the piano and the Korg keyboard at the same time – it’s not something you often see in a concert!

PART 5: FOOTPRINTS

Hancock then announced that “Footprints,” a Wayne Shorter composition arranged by Blanchard, would be next.

Despite it being a Blanchard arrangement, the trumpet was surprisingly not the featured instrument – in fact, every instrument had moments to shine during the piece.

For Hancock especially it featured some killer piano playing, which led him to turn to the audience and jokingly say “ouch” when the piece ended.

PART 6: INTRODUCING THE BAND

Hancock then introduced each member of his band of all-stars.

Terence Blanchard

My second time seeing him perform this year, I was again blown away by his trumpet playing and professionalism on stage. But I also noticed something else about Blanchard this time: he’s extremely humble.

Despite being an A-list composer and performer, I don’t think he has made any mention on his social media feeds that he was performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival Japan this year

Why? I can only assume it is because he wants this concert to be about Herbie Hancock. If that isn’t the ultimate sign of humility and respect for his band leader and friend, I don’t know what is.

These qualities seem to be appreciated by Hancock as he was profuse in his praise for Blanchard in his introduction.

Jaylen Petinaud

Twenty-six. Twenty-six years old! How could that possibly be?!

Cool, confident and as skilled as someone in the game for much longer, I can see why Petinaud is playing in a band as distinguished as this – he’s a monster on the drums.

Lionel Loueke

“This guy is AI. He does the impossible,” proclaimed Hancock about Loueke.

Throughout the concert this was abundantly evident.

He made sounds and displayed fingering techniques that I have never seen before. He used his voice to create sounds in ways I’ve never even thought possible.

A phenomenon in every sense of the word.

James Genus

Hancock’s glowing words of praise for Genus caused him to shyly brush them off. But despite his shy, quiet and unassuming exterior, Genus let his mighty bass playing do the talking throughout the night.

In fact, pretty much everyone in the band seems quiet and unassuming – it’s just that they live and breathe jazz and play it like they invented it.

PART 7: ACTUAL PROOF

The third piece in their set was “Actual Proof,” a piece Hancock had originally done with The Headhunters.

Up until this point in the set, the superlative skills of all the band had been on displayed front-and-center except for the bassist. But when Genus’ solo finally came during this piece, he gave a mind-boggling show of skill.

It’s no coincidence that this piece received long and sustained applause when it ended.

PART 8: THE (SYNTH) VOICE OF (JAZZ) GOD

It was now time for something totally different.

Hancock sat down at the Korg and started making some deep, synthesized sounds using his voice. At first he spoke his lines. Then he started to sing them.

I couldn’t help but chuckle when he sang “I don’t know how to sing” in that synthesized voice. While it was highly amusing, it was also weirdly satisfying in a musical way.

And with that, the piece began – the name of which escapes me*. It was a cool piece that also featured arresting processed vocal sounds by Loueke.

* please contact me if you know!

PART 9: CHAMELEON

When Hancock strapped on his keytar and started playing that iconic baseline from “Chameleon,” I knew we were in for a treat.

And when Blanchard later came in with his trumpet to play that main theme, I was in music heaven!

Towards the end of the piece, it seems that Hancock had some technical issues with the keytar, but as soon as he found and pushed the right button on the device, BOOM – off he went with the funkiest and most glorious solo of the night.

It was a deeply satisfying way to end the evening which was met with rapturous and sustained applause.

PART 10: CERTAINLY NO SLOUCH

Throughout this report I have gone in detail about everyone except Hancock.

Needless to say, he is incredible. God-like in skill and universal in appeal.

He has amazing dexterity and can play any keyboard (or multiple ones at once) at the drop of a hat.

It would be easy to say that he plays well for his age – but that simply isn’t true because he plays like a boss FOR ANY AGE. 

As a raconteur on stage, he’s sharp, charismatic and brings the cool in spades. 

He comes across as gentle and fatherly, and the band clearly respects and appreciates him.

Indeed, we are all lucky to hear an artist of his calibre still performing on stage.

PART 11: CONCERT MERCH AND VIP PRIVILEGES

The following merch was on sale at the venue:

For those with VIP tickets, you were given seats in the first few blocks of the arena as well as a limited edition festival t-shirt and VIP card.

VIP tickets holders were also provided access to a small lounge serving booze and snacks.

PART 12: OVER TO YOU

Did you also go to this concert? How did you like it?

And what did you think of my report? Feel free to comment below or reach out to me directly in the “Contact Me” section.