- By Mabel Pais
Legendary musician Herbie Hancock, one of the most influential musicians of our times, will present his unique artistry at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) on Friday, July 31, 2026 at 8 pm.
Joining Hancock will be his acclaimed band:
Terence Blanchard – trumpet
James Genus – bass
Lionel Loueke – guitar
Jaylen Petinaud – drums
Herbie Hancock, during his five-decade legacy, has transcended limitations and genres, all while maintaining his unmistakable voice and vision. A true innovator, Hancock has pioneered new directions in jazz, composing enduring standards like “Watermelon Man” and “Cantaloupe Island.” His influence stretches across jazz, R&B, funk, and hip hop, inspiring generations of artists.
Watch Herbie and his band play “Cantaloupe Island” – https://youtube.com/watch?v=15k-TE_Z3GE
Herbie Hancock
With a remarkable five-decade legacy, Hancock has garnered 14 GRAMMY Awards — including Album of the Year for the groundbreaking “River: The Joni Letters” — and continues to amaze audiences worldwide with his innovative spirit and creative mastery. Among his many accolades are a GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award, the NEA Jazz Master honor, an Academy Award, Kennedy Center Honors, and in 2025, the prestigious Polar Music Prize — often called the “Nobel Prize of Music.”
Herbie Hancock’s journey began as a child prodigy, performing a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11. Drawn to jazz in high school, he was influenced by Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans before being discovered by trumpeter Donald Byrd. After session work with Byrd, Phil Woods, and Oliver Nelson, Hancock signed with Blue Note Records and released his debut album “Takin’ Off” in 1963, featuring the hit “Watermelon Man.”
That same year, Hancock joined the Miles Davis Quintet, collaborating on iconic albums such as “ESP,” “Nefertiti,” and “Sorcerer.” He later contributed to Davis’ revolutionary “In a Silent Way.” Hancock’s own band, The Headhunters, released the chart-topping album “Head Hunters” in 1973, featuring the crossover hit “Chameleon,” making it the first jazz album to go platinum. By the mid-1970s, Hancock was filling stadiums worldwide and had multiple albums on the pop charts simultaneously. His critically acclaimed album “The Imagine Project” won two 2011 GRAMMY® Awards, giving him the status of a musical visionary.
Off stage, Hancock continues to shape the future of jazz as Creative Chair for Jazz at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Institute Chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, the premier organization for jazz performance and education. He is also a founder of the International Committee of Artists for Peace and was honored as “Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres” by France. He is a Nobel Professor of Poetry at Harvard University.
Tickets
For tickets to experience Herbie Hancock, the icon of modern music, visit www.NJPAC.org or the NJPAC Box Office at 1 Center Street, Newark or call 888.GO.NJPAC (888.466.5722).
Orchestra Artist Bios
Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements concerning painful American tragedies – past and present. A true “Renaissance” man, Blanchard stands tall as one of jazz’s most-esteemed trumpeters and defies expectations by creating a spectrum of artistic pursuits. Boundary-breaking and genre-defying, Blanchard is recognized globally as a dazzling soloist and a prolific composer for film, television, opera, Broadway, orchestras and for his own ensembles.
Leading theater magazine TheaterMania recently cited Blanchard as “the most exciting American composer working in opera today.”
The New York Times said of Blanchard, “Blanchard’s body of work is one of the broadest and most imposing of any living jazz musician.”
An eight-time Grammy Winner and twice Oscar-nominated film composer, Blanchard became only the second African-American composer to be nominated twice in the original score category at the 2022 Academy Awards, duplicating Quincy Jones’ feat from 1967’s In Cold Blood and 1985’s The Color Purple. Blanchard’s work has placed him at the forefront of giving voice to human rights, civil rights, and racial injustice, including the 2016 album “Breathless,’’ an elegy for Eric Garner, who was killed by police and whose words, “I can’t breathe,” became a civil rights rallying cry.
James Genus
James Genus is an American jazz bassist. He plays both electric bass guitar and upright bass and currently plays in the Saturday Night Live Band. He also occasionally fills in for Mark Kelley of the hip hop band The Roots. Genus has performed as a session musician and sideman throughout his career, having worked with an extensive list of artists.
Genus was born in Hampton, Virginia. He began on guitar at age six and switched to bass at 13. He studied at Virginia Commonwealth University from 1983 to 1987 and played for a summer at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Then he moved to New York City, where he quickly began working with many noted players on the city’s jazz scene.
Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke is a guitarist and vocalist born in Benin, West Africa. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art.
He also studied at the American School of Music in Paris from 1994 to 1998, Berklee College of Music from 1999 to 2001, and the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz (previously the Thelonious Monk Institute) from 2001 to 2003.
He got his first professional job at a club when during a break he took a guitar from the bandstand and started playing it. The club’s manager heard him and offered him a job. He played African pop music, but he discovered jazz when a friend returned from Paris with a copy of an album by George Benson. This inspired Loueke to study jazz in Paris. He auditioned for the, then, Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of California Los Angeles. He was selected in a worldwide search by a panel of judges, including jazz musicians Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, and Wayne Shorter.
Loueke recorded with the Australian band The Vampires on their album “The Vampires Meet Lionel Loueke.” The album was nominated for the 2017 ARIA Music Award for Best Jazz Album.
Jaylen Petinaud
Jaylen Petinaud is one of the most sought-after drummers in the entertainment industry. Most recently, Jaylen was nominated for Best Jazz Drummer by Modern Drummer Magazine’s 2024 Readers Poll.
He is currently on tour with Herbie Hancock, and is the drummer for Alicia Keys’ Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical, “Hell’s Kitchen” on Broadway, which also hit #1 on Billboard’s Top Cast Albums chart.
Jaylen frequently plays with artists such as Kenny Garrett, Keyon Harrold, and Terrance Blanchard / The E- Collective. In 2024, he had the pleasure of playing on Keyon Harrold’s NPR Tiny Desk performance, which featured Robert Glasper, PJ Morton, and more. Jaylen’s style and execution formulate an unleashed technique that uplifts soulful harmonies. His infusion of worldbeat rhythms into contemporary funk celebrates a revolutionary tune. Jaylen is versed in multiple genres such as jazz, gospel, pop, classical, hip-hop, and r&b but is ready to produce a brand of his own.
Jaylen has also served as faculty at NYU Tisch School of the Arts Dance & SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance serving as an accompanist for Ballet, African, Horton and Graham classes.
Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Education, Spirituality, Social Issues, Health and Wellness, Business, and Cuisine.
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