08/23/2026
Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock. In just ONE WEEK, ladies and gents, on August 19th, 2026, I’m looking forward to sharing the stage at the notable Hollywood Bowl with a dear friend from the dawn of my career: Mr. Herbie Hancock.
Herbie and I first played together as members of Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet, alongside Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams. There was an extraordinary level of trust within that group. I always thought of us as a band as a kind of laboratory: Miles was the chemist, and the rest of us were the chemicals, constantly reacting and creating something new from one performance to the next.
Our musical relationship continued long after the Quintet, and over the years Herbie and I have appeared together on more than 100 recordings, both as leaders and sidemen. Among them are my Third Plane, Herbie’s Empyrean Isles and Maiden Voyage, Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil, and Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay.
Now, in celebration of Miles Davis’s centennial, Herbie and I will reunite onstage twice in 2026: first at the Hollywood Bowl on August 19th, and then at the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 27th.
It will be a special reunion, and I hope you’ll join us for these occasions. Find those tickets and more via www.RonCarterJazz.com
📸: Here we are backstage in 1985 with Tony Williams and Village Vanguard owner Max Gordon. Captured by photographer Mitchell Seidel.
