Tonight in Bergamo. Hancock performs at eighty-five.

One of the brightest stars in the global music scene, an ambassador for jazz and a winner of 14 Grammy Awards, Herbie Hancock , 85, will perform tonight at 9:30 pm at the Lazzaretto, as part of the summer edition of Bergamo Jazz , marking his long-awaited return to the Bergamo capital, 53 years after his last performance. The celebrated American pianist and keyboardist will perform with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, guitarist Lionel Loueke, bassist James Genus, and drummer Jaylen Petinaud.

A vast discography spanning styles and genres, prestigious collaborations, and soundtracks for major films such as Antonioni's Blow Up and the Oscar for the score to Bertrand Tavernier's Round Midnight: all this makes Hancock one of the most iconic artists in over 60 years of modern music history, a true living legend, a free spirit who has shaped the sonic landscape from the 1960s onward. His March 17, 1972, concert at the Donizetti Theatre is a memorable one at the Bergamo Jazz Festival: then 32, Hancock captivated the audience with the captivating electroacoustic mix of his Mwandishi sextet.

Born in Chicago in 1940, Herbie Hancock was a typical child prodigy: at just 11, he played a Mozart concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was introduced to jazz by listening to two very different pianists, Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. His first engagement came in 1960, with Donald Byrd. In 1963, he recorded Takin' Off, the first album to include one of his biggest hits, "Watermelon Man." Other albums followed, and most notably, his joining the Miles Davis quintet, with whom Hancock would share the electric visions of the late 1960s, appearing on landmark albums such as "In a Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew." He has been a UNESCO ambassador since 2011.

Michael Andreucci

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