The Imagine Project Sparks

Herbie Hancock has performed on Sunday at the Royal Albert Hall.

One of the most attended events of this year's London Jazz Festival,the improbably 70-year-old maestro unleashed his amazing talents in a two-and-a-half single set.

“You will hear some very difficult music tonight. You might ask yourself: what the hell is going on?” Hancock said, turning to the public. “This is the kind of band that likes to confuse everybody else. That is true, you know, when these guys play” he laughs, “They say, I would like to find a way to throw them off!”

Violinist-vocalist Kristina Train, soul singer-keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, guitarist Lionel Loueke, drummer Trevor Lawrence and bassist James Genus accompanied the stellar musician to cover the world-pop repertoire that comprises his last studio album, Imagine. The project sees the collaboration between dozens of world-famous musicians.

At the end of the first set, the master introduced to the public his project for peace and tolerance. “My father actually avoided being in the arms service in the United States just when I was born. He could do that because he was thirty years old, and he had two children,” he said with a smile. “I had the great opportunity to have my father with me for all the 90 years that he lived,” he added, as a burst of applauses lifts the hall and a tear rippled down from his cheeks.

“It wouldn't be good to play music if it wouldn't be a challenge,” Hancock said. Just as we managed to get a taste of Hancock’s new pop repertoire, the band slid back languorously to performing much loved hits Watermelon Man, Cantaloupe Island and Chameleon. A wave of sublime emotions flooded the hall.

To give the audience a better taste of the new studio album, the band performed “Don't Give Up,” “Imagine,” “A change is gonna come, ” and other tracks.

Lyrical expression and an unbeatable taste for improvisation are the signature of a worldwide project aiming to promote peace, humanity and tolerance through the poetics of music.