On Wednesday, March 11, jazz pianist Herbie Hancock performed a short set at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Crown Hall, as part of a fundraiser for International Jazz Day and in conjunction with an architecture studio.
Hancock (85) is a renowned musician from Chicago’s Hyde Park. He was classically trained and considered a child prodigy, performing as part of a Chicago Symphony Orchestra youth concert at only 11. In high school, he started experimenting with jazz piano, based on recordings he heard of it. He studied electrical engineering and music in college, and would later be granted an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Grinnell College. He released his first solo album, Takin’ Off, in 1962, and started playing in Miles Davis’s Second Quintet the following year. Hancock has released at least 41 albums, either on his own or in a group, since Takin’ Off, with his most recent being in 2010. He’s won many awards for his work over the years, including Best Original Score at the Academy Awards in 1986, and Album of the Year at the Grammys in 2007.
Hancock’s performance at Crown Hall lasted about 15 minutes. He said that he would not be playing a specific tune, but rather was going to “noodle around”. His performance was somewhat on the slower and gentler side, and earned him a standing ovation. Many people I spoke to expressed how beautiful the performance was, and how rare it was to experience something like this. (The last concert similar to this at Crown Hall was held about 70 years ago.)
The performance was fairly intimate, to a crowd of about 150 people, most of whom were students (such as myself) standing in the back. Many invited guests were in the seats of the event, including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and jazz singer Kurt Elling, among various others primarily affiliated with Chicago’s real estate or architecture industries.
The performance was loosely affiliated with Susan Conger-Austin’s current studio course designing a jazz center for Bronzeville. (Architectural studios typically have a prompt decided upon by the professor(s) teaching the studio that students then spend a semester designing.) Selected pieces of student work decorated the wall behind the piano throughout the performance. Some were proposed designs for the studio, while others were more abstract art, such as visual attempts to represent jazz music.
The performance served as a fundraiser for events associated with International Jazz Day, an annual celebration put on by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 2011. Each year, a different city hosts the celebration; this year, it’s being held in Chicago for the first time. The event culminates the end of Jazz Appreciation Month (held annually in April), and usually features a series of large scale performances, with this year’s ending in a concert at Chicago’s Lyric Opera House. Other events are held around the world, both by UNESCO and local organizers, including film screenings and concerts held across Chicago throughout April. A full list of events can be found here: jazzday.com/events/ . The Director-General for UNESCO and Hancock have been the lead organizers for International Jazz Day since its inception.
