This is an unbelievable tragedy, first of all for his family, for his devout fans, for the world of music and for the world of culture.  Michael was one of the most diligent creators.  His passion flowed through every pore of his being.  His sense of invention was unparalleled.  Who else could have thought of the moonwalk and who else could have created such a unique sense of movement in dance.  His contribution to music  and music videos; Off the Wall, Thriller, We are the World are expressions of his consummate talent.  Above all his compassion for serving humanity and desire to uplift and encourage excellence are etched in his legacy.

He changed the world.

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NPR and HBO will present broadcasts of the historic concert celebration Sunday kicking off the Obama Inaugural ceremonies.

To listen in via radio, NPR will be your choice. From the NPR website:

To watch via cable and satellite stations, HBO will be making their signal available free of charge to any cable or satellite subscriber.

HBO's broadcast of the event will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT and replay at 7pm ET/PT and 11:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Initial Talent Line Up Announced for the Lincoln Memorial Opening Celebration

We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration to Kick Off Official Inaugural Events

WASHINGTON, DC - The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) is pleased to announce the initial talent lineup for WE ARE ONE: THE OBAMA INAUGURAL CELEBRATION AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL, the Opening Celebration for the 56th Presidential Inaugural, to be presented exclusively by HBO on Sunday, January 18 (7:00-9:00 p.m. ET/PT). The event will be free and open to the public, kicking off the most open and accessible Inauguration in history.

A production of The Stevens Company in association with Don Mischer Productions, the special will be executive produced by George Stevens, Jr. (The Kennedy Center Honors), and produced by Don Mischer (Olympic Ceremonies) who will also direct the special, and Michael Stevens (The American Film Institute Salutes) who is also writing the special.

Musical performers scheduled for the event include Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder. Reading historical passages will be Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington. The Rt. Reverend V. Gene Robinson will give the invocation. Rob Mathes will be the music director and arranger for the backing band, which will support all of the artists. Additional performers will be announced as they are confirmed.

"Our intention is to root the event in history, celebrating the moments when our nation has united to face great challenges and prevail," observed George Stevens, Jr. "We will combine historical readings by prominent actors with music from an array of the greatest stars of today."

"This is a great opportunity to capture an historic event in a very meaningful setting," noted Don Mischer. "We will have the statue of Abraham Lincoln looking down on our stage and a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people lining the mall -- a tableau any director would relish."

"We have found that the great artists are eager to take part and each one is working with us to find music that expresses the optimism and hope that people bring to the Obama inauguration," said Michael Stevens.

Televised to the nation, the Opening Celebration will be a declaration of common purpose and new beginnings. The Sunday afternoon performance will be grounded in history and brought to life with entertainment that relates to the themes that shaped Barack Obama and which will be the hallmarks of his administration.

HBO will televise the event on an open signal, working with all of its distributors to allow Americans across the country with access to cable, telcos or satellite television to join in the Opening Celebration for free.

The 56th Inauguration promises to be the most inclusive in history, and the Opening Celebration is one of a series of inaugural events that reflect that commitment. On Saturday, the President-elect, Vice President-elect and their families will journey to the nation's capital via train, holding events that are free and open to the public along the way. They will be joined by a group of everyday Americans they met along their road to the White House. On January 19, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President-elect Obama will call on all Americans to make an ongoing commitment to serve their communities and their country. A new website, USAservice.org, makes it easy for Americans to organize service events or find existing events to participate in. To date, nearly 5,000 events have been organized across the country. That evening, Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, and their families will host a free "Kids' Inaugural" concert to honor military families, broadcast live on the Disney Channel and Radio Disney.

This spirit of openness will continue on Inauguration Day, when, for the first time in history, the entire length of the National Mall will be open to the public for the swearing in ceremony. Local D.C. students have also been given the chance to receive tickets in front of the White House for the Inaugural Parade for themselves and their family members based on the submission of essays answering the question, "How can I contribute to my neighborhood through community service?"

On the evening of Inauguration Day, the first ball that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will attend will be the first-ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball. The ball will be broadcast live on ABC and over the Internet, bringing together neighborhoods across the country in the spirit of unity and celebration.

The sum of these public events is an Inauguration that allows more Americans than ever before to come together as one nation and one people, united in our resolve to tackle our greatest common challenges and move this country forward together.

For the latest information on the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, please visit www.pic2009.org.

Freddie Hubbard was, I believe, the greatest jazz trumpet stylists of my generation. His influence is still being felt in the sound of many young trumpeters today. His warm tone and formidable technique will be considered marvels well into the future.

Personally, I was so fortunate in that Freddie played on my very first album as a leader "Takin' Off". He was exactly the person I wanted and his contribution was groundbreaking. On a tune called "One Finger Snap" on a subsequent album of mine, his beginning improvised solo line worked so seamlessly that it became a kind of generic "melody" that most musicians still believe was the composed melody, when in fact it was not.

He and I crossed paths musically in several albums. In the group VSOP he was a founding member who's artistry helped propel that project, which began as a one time tour, to a decade of memorable musical inspirational moments for me.

His legacy is secure in that he played a seminal role of the shaping of the evolution of America's foremost contribution to the musical arts, jazz.


Herbie Hancock

Congratulations to everyone who touched the success of this album, from Joni's creative genius to Larry Klein's guidance to Herbie's interpretive vision.

And congratulations to all the musicians, engineers and crews in the studios and to everyone in the offices at Hancock Music Co., Verve Records and Shore Fire who helped introduce this music to music lovers around the world.

-Herbie's web team

from www.herbiehancock.com/news

In the pre-televised portion of the GRAMMY Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, Herbie Hancock won the GRAMMY for "Best Contemporary Jazz Album" today.

The staff and management of Hancock Music Co. sends our warmest congratulations to Herbie and to everyone who's work on the album made the entire project and the tour behind it possible.

We also extend our congratulations to our friends who also won awards this afternoon.

Michael Brecker, a terrific musician and wonderful person who was taken from us far too soon won the award for "Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group" for his final album, "Pilgrimage," which Herbie is grateful to have been part of.

Michael was also awarded the GRAMMY for "Best Jazz Instrumental Solo" for the song "Anagram" from "Pilgrimage." He shared the nomination in this category with Herbie for the solo on "Both Sides Now" from "River," and with our friend Terence Blanchard, who was nominated for his solo on "Levees" from his latest album, "A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina)."

Terence also walked away with an award today in the category of Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for "A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina)."

Congratulations to everyone who was honored with nominations and awards.

"Oscar Peterson redefined swing for modern jazz pianists for the latter half of the 20th century up until today. I consider him the major influence that formed my roots in jazz piano playing. He mastered the balance between technique, hard blues grooving, and tenderness. You'll find Oscar Peterson's influence in the generations that came after him. No one will ever be able to take his place."

-- Herbie Hancock

GRAMMY nominee Herbie Hancock performs in his last stateside concert of the year on 12/16 at 2:30 pm in UCLA's Royce Hall for the International Committee of Artists for Peace's (ICAP) First Annual Founder's Concert. [ Tickets ]

"River: The Joni Letters" is available at all the usual locations, and is available in a special edition format featuring an exclusive added track featuring Sonya Kitchell from Amazon.

Head over to www.livedaily.com/herbiehancock and be one of the first to hear the full album, which the New York Times says "delivers an intimate reinvention issuing from someplace deep inside the music."

Describing the great work of Herbie's core band on the record (Herbie, sax genius Wayne Shorter, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, bassist Dave Holland and guitarist Lionel Loueke), the Times goes on to say:

They also support a handful of vocalists, ranging from the wistful young singer-songwriters Corinne Bailey Rae and Norah Jones (on "River" and "Court and Spark" respectively) to the spectral poet-songwriter Leonard Cohen ("The Jungle Line"). Tina Turner takes a mesmerizing turn on "Edith and the Kingpin," while the Brazilian jazz singer Luciana Souza offers a respectful "Amelia."

Then there is Ms. Mitchell herself. "If she's not a jazz singer, I don't know who is," Mr. Hancock said. "Her phrasing on 'Tea Leaf Prophecy' is unbelievable."

The New Yorker weighs in as well, speaking of Wayne Shorter's contributions:

Hancock plays with care and beauty, his understated lyricism infusing the instrumental features "Sweet Bird," "Both Sides Now," and Duke Ellington's "Solitude," one of two non-Mitchell songs. But it is Shorter who truly inhabits Mitchell's unique musical universe; relying on suggestion and shading, his compact soprano and tenor saxophone lines deliver the impact of ten notes with just one. Shorter gets to stretch out on his own composition, "Nefertiti," the spiralling number that, in its début on Miles Davis's 1967 album of the same name, gave notice that the saxophonist was on the cusp of becoming a major jazz figure. Here, it acts as an homage to the artistic daring of three soul siblings: Joni, Wayne, and Herbie.

"River: The Joni Letters" will be released September 25th at all the usual locations, and is available for pre-orders now from Amazon.

"Joe Zawinul is one of my oldest friends in the music business. He was a force as a composer and an amazing conceptualizer. He opened up a doorway between jazz and rock n' roll and was a major influence on Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and me. The world has never been the same since he made his contribution to our society."

Herbie Hancock