"The pressure isn't on me the same way it was in the past, when I was signed to different record labels," Hancock affirmed. "Now that I'm not formally signed, I make deals with labels to share the ownership of the records I make. It's different than when records were two sides on an LP. Now, you can release one or two songs at a time, and — eventually — make what is essentially an album.

"This is a different time and a different age, with different ways of doing things. Artists can sign up to put their music on a streaming service, and — if I don't know how that works — I can get other people to handle that for me."

In Hancock's case, only time constraints prevent him from learning how to stream his own music, if not launch his own streaming service.

A double-major in music and engineering, he was barely 21 when he graduated from Iowa's Grinnell College in 1960. That was only two years before the release of his 1962 debut album, the aptly named "Takin' Off" — and just 10 years after he made his debut as a piano soloist with the Chicago Symphony at the age of 11.

Hancock went on to write such classic songs as "Watermelon Man," "Cantaloupe Island," "Maiden Voyage," "The Eye of the Hurricane," "Speak Like a Child," "The Sorcerer," "Chameleon," "Actual Proof," "Rockit" and a good number more.

International Jazz Day

One of the first and most prominent artists to come from the jazz world who embraced electric keyboards, synthesizers and music software, he heads the UC Los Angeles-based Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. As a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Goodwill Ambassador, he is the founder and host of International Jazz Day, which is now in its 13th year and is celebrated in more than 190 countries.

This year's anchor city is Tangier, Morocco, where Hancock will perform and speak. International Jazz Day will culminate with an All-Star Global Concert on April 30 at Tangier's Palace of Arts and Culture. Musicians from more than 15 countries will perform during the concert, which will stream on YouTube, Facebook, jazzday.com and the websites of the United Nations and UNESCO.

"The important thing is to present something to people that's going to inspire them and encourage them. I try to be in the moment, always, no matter where I am or who I'm (playing) with," said Hancock, who on Aug. 14 will perform at the Hollywood Bowl with his pioneering band, Headhunters. It will be his first appearance with the group — which features saxophonist Bennie Maupin and drummer Harvey Mason Jr. — in 50 years.

His array of musical partners over the years has been almost almost dizzying in its diversity. They have included everyone from Miles Davis, Mongo Santamaria, Joni Mitchell, Chick Corea, Tina Turner and Gambian kora player Foday Musa Suso to Bootsy Collins, Brazilian vocal legend Milton Nascimento, Ireland's the Chieftains, sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar, opera star Kathleen Battle and Chinese classical pianist Lang Lang.

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