Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock, born in 1940, American pianist, keyboard player, and composer, a pioneer of the style of jazz known as fusion. Born Herbert Jeffrey Hancock in Chicago, he began playing the piano at the age of 7. Hancock was educated at Grinnell College and Roosevelt University. At the age of 11 he performed a piano concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. While in college, and influenced by recordings of jazz pianists Oscar Peterson and George Shearing, Hancock played nightclubs with saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and trumpeter Donald Byrd. In 1962, after signing a recording contract with the Blue Note record company, he released his first album as a band leader, Takin’ Off, which included the gospel-influenced composition “Watermelon Man” (see Gospel Music).

In 1963 Hancock joined the quintet of trumpeter Miles Davis, one of the most innovative jazz ensembles of the time. Regarded as a brilliant bebop soloist, he combined high-tech electronics with acoustic piano. With Davis and later with his own ensemble in the early 1970s, Hancock pioneered jazz-fusion, a blend of rock music, jazz improvisation, and influences such as Latin American music and African music. With the album Headhunters (1973), he crossed over into a mixture of hard rock, funk, and disco, and employed synthesizers, overdubbing techniques, and studio control-board editing .

In the 1980s Hancock discovered “scratch” music, a rhythmic effect originating in rap music, and with his new ensemble, the Rockit Band, he explored the “street-beat” rhythms of contemporary urban funk. His popular single “Rockit” (1983) was featured in a memorable music video and won a Grammy Award in 1984. More Grammy Awards followed in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, including album of the year in 2008 for River: The Joni Letters (2007), a collection of songs by Joni Mitchell. Hancock has composed the music for numerous television shows and motion pictures. In 1987 he received an Academy Award for his score to the motion picture Round Midnight (1986), about jazz musicians in Paris, France, during the 1950s.