Lang lang gets loose

Savoring a detour from his classical music focus, the star pianist teams up with some jazzy collaborators, Chen Nan reports.

American jazz musician Herbie Hancock teamed up with Chinese pianist Lang Lang for a six-minute version of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue at the Grammy Awards ceremony in 2008. It was a big night for Hancock, who won his 12th Grammy for album of the year with River: The Joni Letters. It was also a rewarding experience for Lang.

"When we worked on the collaboration, I played Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in my way, which is traditional and classical. Then Herbie performed his version, which stunned me," recalls Lang in Beijing recently. "He presented every note of the piece with a different color, which is free and fresh. The piano doesn't sound like a piano. It's like from inside his heart."