This week in PostMag: the music special, from Herbie Hancock to the Hong Kong Philharmonic

We dive into Hong Kong’s current musical happenings, including the upcoming Freespace Jazz Fest where Antonio Sánchez will perform

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Herbie Hancock, pictured in 1981, graces the October 20 issue cover of PostMag. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Published: 7:00am, 20 Oct 2024

On (frightfully) rare occasions, things just seem to all come together, don’t they? That’s the story of this week’s print magazine – our ad hoc music issue. While I’d love to claim it was the product of obsessive planning, sometimes the puzzle pieces fit on their own and you roll with it. Improvised like jazz.

In retrospect, we took a note from the freewheeling nature of the genre – a tidy tie-in with the subject matter at hand. First, the opportunity for our cover feature landed on our desk: an exclusive chat with jazz legend Herbie Hancock. The inimitable pianist speaks with Rob Garratt about everything and everyone from AI to religion, Miles Davis to Kendrick Lamar. I read it at the end of the day and immediately popped in headphones to listen to “Cantaloupe Island” on the walk home from the office.

Hancock will be in town next weekend for the Freespace Jazz Fest, a programme that’s also bringing virtuoso drummer and Grammy-winning composer Antonio Sánchez to Hong Kong – the next puzzle piece that fit into our issue. Sánchez will be improvising live to the film Birdman, the score of which rocketed him to fame a decade ago.

Hong Kong’s own musical talent make appearances, too. Mention of The Promise Ring as a foundational inspiration for home-grown alt-rock group Wellsaid brought back memories of my teenage years. “Everyone is living in a land of regret”, says the band’s frontman, Rocky Sum Lok-kei, in advance of their album launch party on October 27. I don’t disagree, but I’m certainly not regretful that my days of hormonal angst are far in the rear-view mirror.

Capping off our musical line-up, former Hong Kong Philharmonic general manager John Duffus pulls back the curtain on the orchestra during the 1980s in an excerpt from his recently published memoir. It’s a juicy read – certainly a phrase I never thought I’d say about classical music.

My travel motivation usually stems from food, but John Brunton has convinced me otherwise this week. He takes us to Mexico City and into the lucha libre ring where masked wrestlers battle it out in an over-the-top evening of entertainment.