Category Jazz History

Herbie Hancock Article. #HerbieHancock#SokaGakkai#NichirenDaishoninBuddhism

The 74-year-old musician is also a follower of Nichiren Buddhism, which adheres to the teachings of the Japanese monk Nichiren (1222–82). Followers of this branch of Buddhism, which is based on the Lotus Sutra, believe that as all beings possess an innate Buddha nature, it is possible to reach enlightenment in the present lifetime.

Their main method is meditation based on recitation of the mantra Nam myoho renge kyo, (literally meaning “I devote myself to the Lotus Sutra” Hancock’s first encounter with the philosophy was in 1972 when he heard the musical tones of Nam myoho renge kyo rendered into a bass guitar solo by a fellow band-mate.

On his website, he says: “Practicing Buddhism has brought sever...

The new guard of soulful, improvising artists on the scene today — musicians such as Kamasi Washington, Kendrick Lamar, and Robert Glasper — freely fuse jazz and hip-hop in their sounds. This is an evolved place from earlier eras when a hip-hop artist would sample a jazz riff into the production, or a jazz musician would play with beats and a DJ scratching over a bebop head.

Beginning with Louis Armstrong and Louis Jordan in the ’20s, through the efforts of ’60s and ’70s pioneers like Herbie Hancock, Donald Byrd and Quincy Jones, and into the golden age of hip-hop with trailblazers like a Tribe Called Quest and Guru (and later with M-Base members like Steve Coleman and Greg Osby), the line between hip-hop and jazz has been progressively blurred.

And now, jazz and hip-hop stand together...

HISTORIC MOMENTS TO MONUMENTAL MUSIC. MUSIC. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> THE DAWN OF THE 1960s WAS >> THE DAWN OF THE 1960s WAS RIPE FOR REVOLUTION.

RIPE FOR REVOLUTION. THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT SPARKED DEBATE ABOUT  CULTURAL DIVIDE AND IN TOWNS ACROSS DIVIDE AND IN TOWNS ACROSS AMERICA,

INTEGRATION TOOK HOLD. AMERICA,  FOR INDIANA AVENUE, THE EMMY FOR INDIANA AVENUE, THE EMMY EPICENTER, THE END OF FORCED EPICENTER,

THE END OF FORCED SEGREGATION LED TO DOWNTOWN EXPANSION AND THE ONE DYNAMIC EXPANSION AND THE ONE DYNAMIC CORRIDOR DISAPPEARED.

YET 60 MILES SOUTH, SOMETHING WAS STIRRING AT INDIANA WAS STIRRING AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY’S SCHOOL OF MUSIC.

IN THE 1950s, STUDENTS AND AND MUSICIANS SUCH AS DAVID BAKER, DAVID BAKER, ALC OUABAIN AND JERRY COKER  was PLAYIN...