Herbie Hancock and International Jazz Day
[Jazz is] about the ability of human beings to take the worst of circumstances and struggles and turn it into something creative and constructive. That's something that's built into the fiber of every human being. And I think that's why people can respond to it. They feel the freedom in it.
—Herbie Hancock
In November 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially designated April 30 as International Jazz Day to highlight the diplomatic role of jazz as a force to unite people around the world. International Jazz Day is chaired by UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay and led by the legendary jazz pianist and composer Herbie Hancock, who serves as a UNESCO Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue and Chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. The Institute—formerly the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz—is the nonprofit charged with planning, promoting, and producing the annual celebration.
International Jazz Day is the culmination of Jazz Appreciation Month, which draws public attention to the extraordinary heritage of jazz throughout April. In December 2012, the United Nations General Assembly formally welcomed the decision by the UNESCO General Conference to proclaim April 30 as International Jazz Day. The United Nations and UNESCO now both recognize International Jazz Day on their official calendars.
Herbie Hancock exemplifies cultural leadership for our times, using his talent, experience, and values to spread the gospel of music as a force for good globally. That’s why, just a few days after the International Jazz Day celebrated its 10th anniversary, I’m happy to share an excerpt from my interview with Herbie in 2012. What follows originally appeared in the New York Daily News.
GT: When did the idea for International Jazz Day come to you and how?
HANCOCK: I'm the chairman of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. I've been involved with that organization since its inception, more than 25 years now. Tom Carter is the president. He and Thelonious Monk Jr. brought me on board. Conversations with Tom Carter brought this idea for UNESCO to declare an International Jazz Day. And it was Tom Carter's idea that it be in April because it's Jazz Appreciation Month. That made a lot of sense. We were both aware of how jazz has played an important diplomatic role throughout its history.
Jazz has been used to bring people together. That's one of the great values of this music. Yes, it was born in America, out of slavery, basically. That's where the roots come from, and ultimately from Africa. But it couldn't have developed in Africa, it had to develop here: It's got the American soil on it.
But—what is an American? Americans are from everywhere. This may be the largest immigrant country in the world. So, this music represents the world anyway. Born from the African-American experience, yes, but it's really about the human experience. It's really about the ability of human beings to take the worst of circumstances and struggles and turn it into something creative and constructive. That's something that's built into the fiber of every human being. And I think that's why people can respond to it. They feel the freedom in it. And the attributes of jazz are also admirable. It's about dialogue. It's about sharing. And teamwork. It's in the moment, and its nonjudgmental, at its best.
When you play on stage, you can't be sitting there judging what the other musicians are playing and say, “I wish he didn't play that.” Or, “I want him to play this right now.” You can't be thinking that way! That goes out the window. Whatever anybody plays, your thought is, how can I make it all work?
And so built into the fiber of jazz are really life lessons too. If you look at life, it's filled with all kinds of things that if we look at it from a judgmental standpoint, we'd say I wish this didn't happen, I wish that didn't happen. But if you don't judge it from that standpoint, and look at it as just an opportunity, it's: how can I make this challenge work?
That's a Buddhist viewpoint.
GT: How does Buddhism play into your Goodwill Ambassador work?
HANCOCK: It plays a very crucial role in the way that I look at everything. This [2012] is actually my 40th year of Buddhist practice. It's Nichiren Buddhism. Throughout the 40 years, I periodically get these revelations. It happens to anyone who practices Buddhism. And it happens to people who don't practice Buddhism too.
I've been playing music for 65 years, since I was 7 years old. I've been thinking all my life: I'm a musician. Well, this revelation that hit me, maybe 15 or so years ago [was] wait a minute: To my daughter, she knows I'm a musician but I'm her father. To my wife, I'm her husband.
When I'm talking to my next-door neighbor, it could be about anything, not just music. When I vote, I'm not just thinking about musicians. I'm thinking about living on this planet, here in America, and exercising my right as a citizen. So, it led me to realize that I manifest myself in a variety of ways. And so does everybody else. But we usually define ourselves by the thing that we do.
Being a musician is what I do, not what I am. But what links all those different aspects is one thing: I'm a human being. When I define myself as a human being, I define myself just like everybody else.
We're all in this together. So I'm much more interested in using various aspects of what I'm capable of doing to work toward the greater good. And to not limit myself to thinking that the only thing I could do to contribute is music. Consequently, being a Goodwill Ambassador falls right into that. It's to serve the advancement of humanity and the human spirit. There's so much conflict in the world today, and in many cases, ridiculous conflict.
I want to be part of the energy and movement to bring us together as global citizens.