SATURDAY JUNE 22,8 p.m. '.,i,,:i ,.. 1i ,, ,:,' 1.. 1,,,'.i;t i, ,- i.;t:r,l Herbie Hancock Long before the term "early adopter" came into common parlance, pianist/ keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock was known for seeking out the latest innovations. A devoted technophile since his childhood in Chicago, he was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers (on his 1973 hit album Head Hunters), and encouraged his colleagues to start checking out personal computers after acquiring an Apple ll in 1977. His love of new technologies isn't confined to the bandstand and recording studio: He recently bought a Tesla S (among sports car aficionados Hancock is renowned as the longest original owner of an AC Cobra, a car he purchased from the showroom with the first royalty check for his 1962 hit "Watermelon Man"). "The Telsa's got the speed and performance, and it's great for the environment," Hancock says from his office in Los Angeles. "lt's right on the cutting edge, and that's where I like to be, pushing toward the future." For his Stanford Jazz Festival debut, Hancock is going to be introducing some of his latest experiments. Though this is ostensibly a solo recital, he'll hardly be alone on stage. ln addition to a Fazioli grand piano, he has been honing new, custom- designed software designed to pare down his electronic aear, which has gotten unruly with five iPads. He's been working with sound designer Eric Persing and programmer Andrew Pask to streamline his gear and "to personalize some software, making it possible for me to access Omnisphere through my personal interface," Hancock says, referring to the potent "virtual synthesizer" program by Spectrasonics. "For this concert, we are working on some special things utilizing surround sound," Hancock says. "Some things are still up in the air, but hopefully it's a precursor to some future developments." Born and raised in Chicago, Hancock was something of a prodigy. He performed with the Chicago Symphony at '1 1 (one of Mozart's piano concertos), and by high school, jazzhad caught his ear. He entered Grinnell College at '16 as an electrical engineering major, but by his FESTIVAL Herbie Hancock, piano and synthesizers i i- i ; ." r ,j i sophomore year he had changed his major and dedicated himself to music. Hancock made his recording debut at 21 with trumpeter Donald Byrd on the 1961 Blue Note album Royal Flush, and before long he signed on with jazz's leading independent label,' recording his hugely successful record Takin' Off. While Hancock continued to record prolifically for Blue Note as a sideman and a leader throughout the decade, in 1963 Miles Davis recruited him for his quintet, which became one of the most influential small bands in jazz history with the addition of Wayne Shorter. When Davis started making the transition to {usion the late 1960s with Filles de Kilimanjaro and ln A Silent Way, Hancock's facility on electric piano proved crucial for the trumpeter's evolving sou nd. He pursued his own sonic experiments as a bandleader in the early 1970s, recording a series of classic albums with Mwandishi, a band largely based in the Bay Area. After assimilating Sly Stone's funk, he changed courses with Headhunters, a band that combined his pioneering synth work on the Arp String Ensemble with the East Bay grease of bassist Paul Jackson and