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RELATED LINKS

• Mr. Hancock's official site
• Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz
• Mr. Hancock's bio
• Q & A with Mr. Hancock

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Tavis: Like any business, in any business, there are those who lead and those who follow. In music, Herbie Hancock has been a leader, an innovator, and a pioneer for over 40 years now. His unique fusion of jazz and electronic instrumentation has made him one of the most sought after producers and collaborators around. His latest project is a new CD featuring duets with artists like Sting, Paul Simon and Joss Stone. The disc is called 'Possibilities.' In stores now. The ageless, timeless, ever handsome Herbie Hancock. Nice to see you, man.

Hancock: Good, thanks, Tavis.

Tavis: You all right?

Hancock: Yeah, yeah.

Tavis: Good to see you, man. I thought to tell your age, I ain't gonna that, 'cause it would embarrass too many people if I told how - chronologically gifted you really are. 'Cause you look so - good every time...

Hancock: I'm 65.

Tavis: - Well he said it, 65, Herbie Hancock look good. 65.

Hancock: Thank you.

Tavis: How do you stay so young, Herbie?

Hancock: I got - pretty good genes.

Tavis: Got good genes?

Hancock: Yeah. My father passed away when he was 90, in his sleep, you know.

Tavis: So not even sick? Just...

Hancock: No, no, he was flirting with the nurses the night before. No, he definitely wasn't sick. And I have been practicing Buddhism for like 33 years, and that has made a big difference. Because a lot of what ages a person is how they deal with external situations, you know. And most people say this thing is stressing me out. Well, what is stressing you out is actually how you are handling that situation. And so, Buddhism helps you to see - put things in perspective. You know, so you don't get stressed out that much.

Tavis: So tell me - I'm glad you went there, because I was hoping that we'd get a chance to talk about that, because you don't - do a whole - lot of interviews and I'm glad have you here. But when you do, it is always about the music. And I have always been fascinated about how you got into the Buddhism thing. Tell me, 'cause I was gonna ask you how you got into it and what it has done for you.

Because you've been practicing a long time. But tell me how you got into it. I - saw for the 18,000th time, I saw 'What's Love Got to Do With It' the other night. So I saw how Tina Turner, of course, got into it. We all know that story. But how did you get into it?

Hancock: But, let me tell you that the word 'possibilities' and the whole concept for doing this CD, or this project, actually, because it may be longer than the CD, really grew out of Buddhism. And what Buddhism is about. But what - happened to me first is that, my focus was always on music. And so that was like the number one thing my life. And, so, back 33 years ago, I was looking for a way to make my music better, and have more of the good nights because you have good nights and you have bad nights.

But have more good nights, right? Anyway, a situation happened, Buster Williams, a bass player, he actually turned me on to this Buddhism. Through his playing, it happened. I heard something in his playing that I never heard before, and it affected the whole night this the particular time. And so I asked him, I said, 'I heard you were in some new philosophy or something, you know, a religion? Whatever it is, if it can make you play bass like that, I want to know what it is.' And Buster started telling me about (unintelligible) and this Buddhism.

And I have been doing it ever since. And it's changed my life in so many ways. One of the most fundamental ways, is now I see that what I am really is a human being, and being a musician is actually what I do. You know, but that is one of the many things. So it opens up a whole lot more possibilities for me as a human being. And when I look at music, I look at it from the standpoint of being a human being, not from the standpoint of being a musician. That's what I wanted to do with this album, 'Possibilities,' and I've had a chance to really achieve it with all the artists that are on the record.

Tavis: I want to come back to the album in just a minute, but you keep saying stuff - if you'd shut up and quit saying so much stuff that fascinates me, I could get on to the CD. But every time you say something, I want to go after it. So I gotta follow up on this. When you say that your being a Buddhist allowed you to see your humanity first, your humanness first, and then your music as what you do, I wonder whether or not you think that most of us are missing that reality? That most of us human beings don't understand ourselves in the context of our humanity, our humanness first or fundamentally?

Hancock: Exactly. That's exactly what happens. And so consequently, we usually put ourselves in this box that we call being a painter or being an artist or being a pop musician or being a jazz musician. Whatever the box is that you put yourself in. But, the idea of 'Possibilities,' and I will tie them, link them both together, with the CD, is that because I believe that human beings are capable of displaying more dimensions than what this box is about.

I felt like just on a musical level now, that as I said, in the clip that you just showed, if they bring what they bring to the table, and I bring what I bring to the table, which is different because I'm coming from, basically from jazz. They are coming basically from pop. And what can happen when we get together is that something, a new something beyond what people expect from these artists would happen, and it happened on every track. That's why every track on 'Possibilities' is a surprise.

Tavis: Reading about how you all did this, to your point about surprise, some people just walked into the studio. In the case of Annie Lennox, y'all talked for hours before you did anything.

Hancock: Yes, about human things, about life.

Tavis: Right. - In the case of other artists, they came in with something that they had in their head, and you had in your head, and y'all collaborated on the spot.

Hancock: Right.

Tavis: So that's what you mean by 'possibility,' you just got together and it just kind of evolved.

Hancock: Yeah. Well, by 'Possibilities' is that, but it is the possibilities of artists really showing more of what they have inside. Instead of just the things that you expect, they are more - they have more in them to deliver. So I was hoping that between me and the particular artists involved for each track, that we could create or design a path for them to be able to deliver something that is more free, more open than what people are used to hearing from them.

Tavis: When you walked on the set before these cameras came on, I introduced you on the stage here as a legend to our folk around the room here. And you said, 'No, no, I'm not a legend. That doesn't fit me. A legend does fit Miles Davis.' You played with Miles Davis. So when I say Miles Davis, you think what?

Hancock: I think, you know, he was my mentor in music. So many things that he taught me about having the courage to go outside the comfort zone. That pertains to 'Possibilities' too. And we tried to do this on the 'Possibilities' CD. About listening, and about respect for the other musicians that you are working with. Respecting them and having the courage to respect yourself and them at the same time. And being nonjudgmental.

Taking whatever happens and try to make something of value happen out of that. I try to apply all these lessons, not only to music, but to life. And it was Buddhism that actually gave me the perspective to see that what Miles taught me in music is applicable to life.

Tavis: Well unlike Miles, I'm glad you don't play with your back to the audience. We like seeing your face when you're playing.

Hancock: But every conductor has their back to the audience.

Tavis: Has their back - point well taken. And Miles was a conductor in more ways than one.

Hancock: Well, that's the only time he turned his back. He was turning his back because he was facing the musicians, and was getting conversation with the drummer, or with the trumpet player. He never turned his back on the audience. He was just trying to make the music better.

Tavis: I see. I never heard it - put that way, but I understand it better now.

Hancock: It's true.

Tavis: Yeah, I get it now.

Hancock: I played with him five and a half years, so I know. I never saw him turn his back to the audience. I saw him facing the musicians.

Tavis: That's a fascinating point.

Hancock: You could see it in his face, you know.

Tavis: Yeah. Tell me how you became - Miles obviously pushes you and teaches you in certain ways, but you are not just a musician, as I said when you came out here, you are an innovator. Where does that come from, your trying to push the limits, trying to put something different, having the nerve to think you could fuse two things that don't sound like they should go together, but make it work anyway.

Hancock: Part of it relates to Miles because Miles always encouraged us to work on thing. Miles said, 'I pay you to work on stuff.' Meaning not to just sit up in your room and work on it your room and then come down and try to play something slick in front of the audience, because that is not really jazz. What's really jazz is playing in the movement, you know.

And I tried to capture that with the CD. So in many ways, what I learned from Miles is actually on the 'Possibilities' CD. So, Miles was just an amazing - person who kind of through his playing, really, because he didn't tell you what to play. But he - through listening to what he played, you could learn so much about how to deal with music. And I try to do that as much as I can.

Tavis: It was almost impossible - I'm glad this CD is a great CD, and it is a great CD. But it is almost impossible for it not to be a great CD when you have got Christina Aguilera, you've got Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Sting, Jonny Lang, Raul Midon, John Mayer, Angelique Kidjo, if you hadn't made this a good album, we would be talking about you, Herbie Hancock. You couldn't miss with this, could you? With all that talent assembled? You couldn't have missed.

Hancock: I know. It is amazing talent, but the thing is, I didn't want to do anything like what they had done before.

Tavis: Right. You achieved that.

Hancock: And - I really feel that we did that. You know, the funny thing is that my experience in putting this record together, it took us a year and a half to put it together. That I didn't really get to hear it as a CD until of course it was done. And then when I first listened to the thing in sequence, you know, the thing that shocked me the most, because I mean I had already been shocked by how everybody delivered for this record. I mean, amazing. Like what Paul Simon did, what Annie Lenox did. Damien Rice, what he did. He's a newcomer.

Tavis: I'm out of time.

Hancock: Yeah, go ahead.

Tavis: You get Herbie's point. Listen to it in sequence. You'll be as amazed as he was. It's out now. Herbie Hancock, 'Possibilities,' thanks for joining us. Catch you next time.

Hancock: And Starbucks, they have it, too.

Tavis: Starbucks, that's where it is. Thank you. And keep the faith. Go to Starbucks.