Herbie Hancock’s Possibilities

 I finished Herbie Hancock’s 2014 memoir Possibilities and liked it a lot. Well, I thought he spent too much time talking about the importance of Buddhism in his life. But other than that, I enjoyed the book.

Hancock played with Miles Davis in his early twenties and, clearly still thinks highly of his life and music, considering him, in many ways, a role model.

Twenty years had passed since I joined Miles Davis’s quintet, and if I had spent my time paying attention to what other people wanted me to do, I would never have explored any other styles of music. Why was it so difficult for people to believe that a musician might want to venture into new music from an artistic standpoint rather than a financial one? I’m not saying I didn’t want my records to sell—of course I did! I wanted my music to reach as many people as possible. But the difference is, I never chose what kind of music to make strictly for the goal of maximizing sales. I made the music my heart led me to make—and some records sold millions of copies, while some sold very few (pgs. 239-240).