Musician Herbie Hancock, seen in this 2013 file photo, will join fellow pianist Chick Corea on a tour that promises a mix of fresh improvisation paired with moments reminiscing about some of their best-known works.Arnulfo Franco/The Associated Press
They are two titans of jazz and improvised music – and the last time they toured together, Jimmy Carter was in the White House, the Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever was topping the charts, and Texas Instruments had just patented the first "Micro on a Chip."
So when musical groundbreakers Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock return to the stage in Vancouver – where their previous duo piano tour landed in February, 1978 – it's a big deal.
For the tour, which kicks off in Seattle then touches down in Vancouver before heading across North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, the pair are promising a mix of fresh improvisation paired with moments reminiscing about some of their best-known works.
"Chick and I have always had an open door toward the possibility of touring again," Mr. Hancock said in an e-mail interview. "We both felt that enough time has passed since our last major tour in 1978, and considering all of the experiences we have had in music and in life, that this was the perfect time to pass through that doorway again."
Talk about experiences: For five decades, Mr. Corea and Mr. Hancock have been at the cutting edge of improvised music, and explored musical styles from avant garde to pop, and from fusion to classical.
Mr. Hancock has been a member of Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, a chart-topping soloist, leader of the platinum-selling Headhunters and landed an eighties synth-pop hit with Rockit. Oscar Peterson, Leonard Cohen, Stevie Wonder and Carlos Santana are just a few of the dozens of artists he's collaborated with, and along the way, he has picked up 14 Grammys, among them album of the year for River: The Joni Letters, his tribute to Joni Mitchell.
With 63 Grammy nods, Chick Corea – a later member of Miles Davis's group – is one of the most nominated artists in history, and the fusion-music pioneer has also worked with music greats from Lionel Hampton to Béla Fleck to Bobby McFerrin. He has also ventured into everything from children's songs to chamber music.
But despite their impressive accomplishments, when they take the stage, the last thing the music masters want to do is recreate the past. "I am not looking to create anything that I did before. I am looking to create the moment that I am actually living in, at the moment," said Mr. Hancock, a devout Buddhist, in an interview with NPR. "And frankly that's what jazz really is about."