Long before the phrase "thinking outside the box" invaded the pop-culture vernacular, jazz/funk iconoclast Herbie Hancock was out there doing it.
And even now, years after the term has been played out, Hancock is still searching for comfort zones to break out of and envelopes to push.
"I've always been a curious person," says Hancock, 67. "I like to explore the territory that hasn't been covered before, and I'm always looking for new stuff to do, or something that's been overlooked."
Over the last five decades, Hancock has become known as much for his willingness to embrace new sounds and technologies as for his acclaimed musical output. In the '60s, he played piano for Miles Davis' "second great quintet," and in the '70s, he helped usher in the era of jazz/funk hybrid by recording the crossover smash Head Hunters -- the first jazz album ever to go platinum.
In the '80s, Hancock's passion for electronic music spawned MTV hit Rockit, and in 2005, he was winning over a whole new generation with duets album Possibilities, which featured collaborations with John Mayer, Christina Aguilera and Carlos Santana.
So, can Hancock -- who's got 10 Grammys to his name, and a soundtrack Oscar for the 1986 flick Round Midnight -- explain what drives him to keep staking out new territory?
"People feel more comfortable putting you somewhere, putting you in a box," Hancock explains. "They enjoy doing that, and I'm not like that. Because human beings are not one-dimensional, they're multi-dimensional. That's why finding things outside the box is never tough -- there's always plenty outside the box. What's always been tough is knowing how to do it, and how to incorporate it into what's already there, and what's already been done."
Which is not to say Hancock always knows exactly how his musical visions will unfold. Most times, he's more informed by them than they are by him.
"At a certain point, it begins to tell you what it wants to do," he says. "Once the thing begins to tell you what it wants to be, at that point it's like a child. You may have some desires, or some view of what you want your child to be. But your child is going to be what it wants to be, and it's the same with music. If you try to force it, you're not going to be happy with the result."
