Yes that is Julian Pollack. I was at the concert.

Yes J3PO on keys

Aging man...Aging...🤣.....I notice the drag too

Yeah, it starts pretty much original tempo but when they got to Bennie’s solo, I think that’s where being in your 80s makes it more challenging on a woodwind instrument. Feels to me like they picked it up again after that. Still amazing that they can still jam at 80+ Legends all.

As badass as these musicians are, you can indeed feel the groove is not sitting right. It could very well be the sound, though I have to assume they did a proper sound check and their monitor mixes were set to their preferences. I have been in situations where the mix changes between sound check and gig and you have to just roll with it and sometimes go on "auto pilot." However I also see the music stands so it just may be the curse of the "all star" one-off gig where you have a particular group of people playing with each other for the first and only time. No matter how great they are, it's not the same as 1970s Herbie groups that were out there playing this tune EVERY NIGHT they were working. What happens in that case is the group has the opportunity over multiple gigs for everyone to listen to each other and find a deep pocket they can all agree on. That's harder to do when you have ONE GIG to do it. No dis to the musicians here, obviously these are all A-listers and we're lucky to have Herbie Hancock still doing it at all! I just believe it's incredibly hard to recapture the "magic" with a one-off gig, no matter who you are!

@@flooey580​​⁠you make some good points but I gotta tell you one thing. That IS Herbie’s band from the 70s! That is the exact lineup from that original Headhunters album 💿 who played on the original track of this song, Chameleon. Every single last person that was on that album is playing here on that stage with the exception of one man, bassist Paul Jackson because Paul died several years ago. Taking his place is Marcus Miller. The other point is that I can assure you that everyone on that stage is hearing themselves and each other or they would not have ended the sound heck until they did. They just have to own the fact that they are dragging. Hey, it happens. Usually though, if really good players don’t hold the time firmly in place they tend to speed up. I don’t know what happened nor really care to know but I can tell you it was not because it wasn’t the same band as the 70s because it actually was a reunion of that very band.

@@Bassocity Of course you're right - this is the original HH band with Marcus (and two others) but I don't think that negates any of my points. Even if this had been the exact same 1974 band, 50 more years of living can change a person and they may not be the same player they were in 1974! I don’t want to speculate about this particular group, but will just say that aging can do different things to different people. Ignoring physical and mental challenges that might come with advancing age - challenges that may affect one’s ability on an instrument - it could simply be that some of these guys haven’t played in this style in a while! If this is the case, I think it might be hard to quickly dial the clock back 50 years and expect to get the same feeling as when they were out there playing this material *all the time*. Too bad this 50th anniversary edition can’t go out and do a week at a club - they would probably be burning the place down by the last night. And can I just say that I could happily listen to Herbie play his version of Mary Had A Little Lamb?! I play keyboards and have been stealing his licks for years! :-) PS - I remember where I was when I heard Chameleon for the first time (yes I'm that old) - it blew me away. I had been a stone jazzer that got into funk, and hearing that sound coming from Herbie (after the Mwandishi records, which I listened to a lot) was a validation that I was on the right track with my own playing.

Yes, they pay for that with a really non existent groove. He should not play difficult parts simultaneously standing up with the KEY-TAR... Another try to be "star." He's not that type, he should just sit and play his ass off like he normally would. .