Malcolm X Abram, cleveland.com
Saturday evening at the Connor Palace Theater at Playhouse Square, Hancock and his group only played five tunes, due to a late start time. But within those five tunes and approximately 75 minutes was more than enough music and musicianship to satiate everyone’s jazz, funk and fusion jones.“I haven’t been here in a long time, but it’s good to see you!” he said before explaining the evening’s opening tune, “Overture,” as “bits and pieces of tunes that I’ve done in the past.
“The last thing he said was...looks like I need a new body to finish my mission. Isn’t that fantastic?” Hancock mused. The band then eased into a Terence Blanchard arrangement of the Shorter’s tune that was a low-key, head-bop inducing, neo-soul style groove with a relaxed solo from Hancock using a lot of lovely chord inversions and a fine serpentine melodic solo from Loueke.