Herbie Hancock Quotes

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Herbie Hancock

Profession : Musician

Birth : April 12, 1940

I like to be on the edge, on the cutting edge, or be into the unknown, into the territory where I have to depend on being in the moment and depending on my instincts.

Herbie Hancock

I've been curious ever since I was a little kid.

Herbie Hancock

All you have to do is play one note. But it needs to be the right note.

Herbie Hancock

It's not easy to play in a framework that requires simplicity and to tastefully find ways to interject the kind of freedom that we have in playing jazz.

Herbie Hancock

Most people define themselves by what they do - 'I'm a musician.' Then one day it occurred to me that I'm only a musician when I'm playing music - or writing music, or talking about music. I don't do that 24 hours a day. I'm also a father, a son, a husband, a citizen - I mean, when I go to vote, I'm not thinking of myself as 'a musician.'

Herbie Hancock

I think people have learned that Herbie Hancock can be defined as someone that you won't be able to figure out what he's going to do next. The sky is the limit as far as I'm concerned.

Herbie Hancock

My first Grammy wasn't even in a jazz category, but of course I was really excited. 'Rockit' was the beginning of kind of a new era for the whole hip-hop movement.

Herbie Hancock

Hip-hop is all over the planet.

Herbie Hancock

I hope to use dialogue and culture as a means of bringing people of various cultures together, and using that as a way to resolve conflict.

Herbie Hancock

At a certain point, I became a kind of musician that has tunnel vision about jazz. I only listened to jazz and classical music.

Herbie Hancock

I just express myself in any way I feel is appropriate at the moment.

Herbie Hancock

I don't go around, the way many musicians do, with earbuds in my ear listening to my iPod all day and just sticking my head in the music all the time.

Herbie Hancock

I am not fundamentally a musician, I am fundamentally a human being.

Herbie Hancock

We need to put into practice the idea of embracing other cultures. We need to be shaping the kind of world we want to live in instead of waiting for someone else or some other entities to do it for us.

Herbie Hancock

To my wife, I'm not Herbie Hancock the musician. I'm her husband. When I'm talking to a neighbor, I'm a neighbor. When I vote, I'm a citizen.

Herbie Hancock

My hope is that the music will serve as a metaphor for the actions taken by the inhabitants of this wonderful planet as a call for world harmony on all levels.

Herbie Hancock

Music truly is the universal language.

Herbie Hancock

The Internet opens up a whole new range of possibilities in a wide range of areas.

Herbie Hancock

I don't see how we can have both the freedoms we had before and the safety net that we all need considering the way the world is today. And that's just because human beings can't trust each other. We've given in over and over to some of the darkest elements that exist in life itself.

Herbie Hancock

We need to move into a culture of peace. What I hope to promote is the idea that we all need each other and that the greatest happiness in life is not how much we have but how much we give. That's a wealth that's priceless. You can't buy compassion.

Herbie Hancock