SAN FRANCISCO--Herbie Hancock has long since passed the point of being able to do whatever he damn well pleases at his live shows.

At the Masonic Auditorium Saturday night, the legendary pianist used a riveting San Francisco Jazz Festival show as a coming-out party of sorts for two delightfully talented young artists, guitarist Lionel Loueke and singer-songwriter Sonya Kitchell.

The set ran the gamut from the hard bop of Hancock's 1965 album Maiden Voyage to his ultrafunky Headhunter years, with several tracks from his latest album, The River, mixed in for good measure.

But while Hancock gave the packed house plenty of what they came for, from his clavinet and synth work on "Chameleon" to his beautiful piano playing on the classic shuffler, "Cantaloupe Island," he allowed Loueke and Kitchell plenty of time and space to shine--and they did just that.

Loueke is a celebrated up-and-comer from Benin, who attended the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, for which Hancock serves as chairman. He has released two solo albums and one with a trio called Gilfema. He has also backed Hancock on his last two albums.

In introducing the band's rendition of the classic "Watermelon Man," Hancock told the crowd that Loueke had composed a song that he dubbed "7 Teens" because it has 17 beats.

"We're not going to play that tune," Hancock said to uproarious laughter. Instead, the group moved in and out of "Watermelon Man" and pieces of "7 Teens," with bassist Nathan East engaging in a playful tête-à-tête with Hancock, who was playing the keytar.

The lengthy section straddled the line between accessibility and improvised experimentation, with the signature melody of "Watermelon Man" and the dazzling drumming of Vinnie Colaiutta serving as the threads that kept it all together.

The band then ceded the stage to Loueke for a solo composition called "Sonic Soup," which somehow managed to mix Beninese chanting with vocoder-powered beatboxing and loops into a cohesive, clever tune.

Kitchell returned with the rest of the band for a series of songs from The River, Hancock's new tribute album to Joni Mitchell. The 18-year-old singer possesses an incredible voice that is weathered well beyond her years and sang beautifully on the album's title track, as well as "All I Want" and a cover of "When Love Comes to Town," the night's only misstep.

The set closed out with spot-on versions of "Cantaloupe Island" and "Chameleon," the latter serving as an apt description of Hancock, the 67-year-old legend who is always willing to push boundaries and bring young talent along with him for the ride.