Herbie Hancock Discusses 'Jazzmatazz' Track

09/26/2000 7:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(9/26/00, 7 a.m. ET) - Jazz great Herbie Hancock has collaborated with rapper/producer Guru for a track on the new Jazzmatazz: Volume 3 album, in stores today (Sept. 26).

Titled "Timeless," the song represents another contribution to hip-hop by the Grammy-winning keyboardist. Hancock is one of a number of contemporary urban artists who collaborated with Guru for the new album, but the only musician known for his instrumental work. Other collaborators include Macy Gray, Amel Larrieux, Angie Stone, and Erykah Badu, to name a few.

Hancock told LAUNCH that Guru approached him for the project, and that the two had never worked together before. The tune was recorded at Babyface's Los Angeles studio.

"When I listened to the track, I said, 'One word pops into my mind, "timeless," like the spirit of timelessness.' He loved that word, and he said 'OK, "timeless," I'm going to call it that.' Then that gave him a direction for the rhyme, so then he went off to write that, and then I started laying some tracks down, and when he came back he listened to what I was doing and he loved it," Hancock explained.

-- Janine Coveney, Los Angeles

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