Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock had more hair in 1996. But he hadn’t any less to offer in 2007. Ushered in by the brass-voiced Lisa Henry, who rendered You’d be nice to come home to with an arresting mix of swing and a touch of balladeering, Hancock regaled with a re-interpretation of a jewel in his repertoire, Dolphin Dances. Playing to a capacity crowd at the Dalhousie Institute under the aegis of The American Center and Congo Square on January 14, the maestro piloted the piece in a manner befitting a legend. The fresh arrangement clearly gave the centrestage to the young turks of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, who, on their part, expertly courted both the raunchy and the shimmeringly soulful.

While Hancock feted aquatic darlings, Wayne Shorter chose to celebrate feline majesty with Footprints. The “idea man” embarked on a steady strain of the sepulchral and the tranquil in what turned out to be a guarded ode to the tiger.

The Hancock-Shorter duet was riveting stuff and very much in the lines of the famed Mal Waldron and Jim Pepper recordings. Hancock revelled in his role of provocateur and Shorter slipped seamlessly into the role of pacifier — the former attacked the ivory and the latter settled for a soothing toot.