Herbie Hancock
Encyclopedia
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock (b. April 12, 1940) is an American pianist, bandleader
and composer. As part of Miles Davis
's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section
and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop
" sound. He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace music synthesizers and funk
music (characterized by syncopated
drum beats). Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success among pop audiences. His music embraces elements of funk and soul
while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz
. In his jazz improvisation, he possesses a unique creative blend of jazz, blues, and modern classical music, with harmonic stylings much like the styles of Claude Debussy
and Maurice Ravel
.
Hancock's best-known solo works include "Cantaloupe Island
", "Watermelon Man" (later performed by dozens of musicians, including bandleader Mongo Santamaría
), "Maiden Voyage
", "Chameleon
", and the singles "I Thought It Was You" and "Rockit
". His 2007 tribute album
River: The Joni Letters
won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year
, only the second jazz album ever to win the award after Getz/Gilberto
in 1965.
As a member of Soka Gakkai International (SGI), Hancock is an adherent of Nichiren Buddhism
, a school of Mahayana Buddhism.
On 22 July 2011 at a ceremony in Paris, Hancock was named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of Intercultural Dialogue.
, Illinois. Like many jazz pianists, Hancock started with a classical music education. He studied from age seven, and his talent was recognized early. Considered a child prodigy
, he played the first movement of Mozart
's Piano Concerto No. 5
at a young people's concert with the Chicago Symphony
at age eleven.
Through his teens, Hancock never had a jazz teacher, but developed his ear and sense of harmony. He was also influenced by records of the vocal group the Hi-Lo's
:
In 1960, he heard Chris Anderson
play just once, and begged him to accept him as a student. Hancock often mentions Anderson as his harmonic guru. Hancock left Grinnell College
, moved to Chicago and began working with Donald Byrd
and Coleman Hawkins
, during which period he also took courses at Roosevelt University
. (He later graduated from Grinnell, which also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1972). Donald Byrd
was attending the Manhattan School of Music
in New York at the time and suggested that Hancock study composition with Vittorio Giannini
, which he did for a short time in 1960. The pianist quickly earned a reputation, and played subsequent sessions with Oliver Nelson
and Phil Woods
. He recorded his first solo album Takin' Off
for Blue Note Records
in 1962. "Watermelon Man" (from Takin' Off) was to provide Mongo Santamaría
with a hit single, but more importantly for Hancock, Takin' Off caught the attention of Miles Davis
, who was at that time assembling a new band. Hancock was introduced to Davis by the young drummer Tony Williams, a member of the new band.
Davis organized was young but effective, comprising bassist Ron Carter
, 17-year-old drummer Tony Williams, and Hancock on piano. After George Coleman
and Sam Rivers
each took a turn at the saxophone spot, the quintet would gel with Wayne Shorter
on tenor saxophone
. This quintet is often regarded as one of the finest jazz ensembles, and the rhythm section
has been especially praised for its innovation and flexibility.
The second great quintet was where Hancock found his own voice as a pianist. Not only did he find new ways to use common chords, but he also popularized chords that had not previously been used in jazz. Hancock also developed a unique taste for "orchestral" accompaniment – using quartal harmony and Debussy-like harmonies, with stark contrasts then unheard of in jazz. With Williams and Carter he wove a labyrinth of rhythmic intricacy on, around and over existing melodic and chordal schemes. In the later half of the sixties their approach became so sophisticated and unorthodox that conventional chord changes
would hardly be discernible; hence their improvisational concept would become known as "Time, No Changes".
While in Davis's band, Hancock also found time to record dozens of sessions for the Blue Note label
, both under his own name and as a sideman
with other musicians such as Wayne Shorter
, Tony Williams, Grant Green
, Bobby Hutcherson
, Sam Rivers
, Donald Byrd
, Kenny Dorham
, Hank Mobley
, Lee Morgan
and Freddie Hubbard
.
His albums Empyrean Isles
(1964) and Maiden Voyage (1965) were to be two of the most famous and influential jazz LPs of the sixties, winning praise for both their innovation and accessibility (the latter demonstrated by the subsequent enormous popularity of the Maiden Voyage title track as a jazz standard, and by the jazz rap
group US3
having a hit single with "Cantaloop
" (derived from "Cantaloupe Island" on Empyrean Isles) some twenty five years later). Empyrean Isles featured the Davis rhythm section of Hancock, Carter and Williams with the addition of Freddie Hubbard
on cornet
, while Maiden Voyage also added former Davis saxophonist George Coleman
(with Hubbard remaining on trumpet). Both albums are regarded as among the principal foundations of the post-bop
style.
Hancock also recorded several less-well-known but still critically acclaimed albums with larger ensembles – My Point of View
(1963), Speak Like a Child
(1968) and The Prisoner
(1969) featured flugelhorn
, alto flute
and bass trombone. 1963's Inventions and Dimensions
was an album of almost entirely improvised music, teaming Hancock with bassist Paul Chambers
and two Latin percussionists, Willie Bobo
and Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez.
During this period, Hancock also composed the score to Michelangelo Antonioni
's film Blowup
, the first of many soundtracks he recorded in his career.
Davis had begun incorporating elements of rock and popular music into his recordings by the end of Hancock's tenure with the band. Despite some initial reluctance, Hancock began doubling on electric keyboards including the Fender Rhodes electric piano
at Davis's insistence. Hancock adapted quickly to the new instruments, which proved to be instrumental in his future artistic endeavors.
Under the pretext that he had returned late from a honeymoon in Brazil
, Hancock was dismissed from Davis's band. In the summer of 1968 Hancock formed his own sextet. However, although Davis soon disbanded his quintet to search for a new sound, Hancock, despite his departure from the working band, continued to appear on Miles Davis records for the next few years. Noteworthy appearances include In a Silent Way
, A Tribute to Jack Johnson
and On the Corner
.
in 1969, signing up with Warner Bros. Records
. In 1969, Hancock composed the soundtrack for the Bill Cosby
animated children's television show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
. Titled Fat Albert Rotunda
, the album was mainly an R&B-influenced album with strong jazz overtones. One of the jazzier songs on the record, "Tell Me A Bedtime Story", was later re-worked as a more electronic sounding song for the Quincy Jones
album, Sounds...and Stuff Like That.
Hancock became fascinated with accumulating musical gadgets and toys. Together with the profound influence of Davis's Bitches Brew
, this fascination would culminate in a series of albums in which electronic instruments are coupled with acoustic instruments.
Hancock's first ventures into electronic music
started with a sextet
comprising Hancock, bassist Buster Williams
and drummer Billy Hart
, and a trio of horn players: Eddie Henderson
(trumpet), Julian Priester
(trombone
), and multireedist
Bennie Maupin
. Dr. Patrick Gleeson was eventually added to the mix to play and program the synthesizers. In fact, Hancock was one of the first jazz pianists to completely embrace electronic keyboards.
The sextet, later a septet with the addition of Gleeson, made three experimental albums under Hancock's name: Mwandishi (1971), Crossings (1972) (both on Warner Bros. Records), and Sextant (1973) (released on Columbia Records); two more, Realization and Inside Out, were recorded under Henderson's name with essentially the same personnel. The music often had very free improvisations and showed influence from the electronic music
of some contemporary classical composers.
Synthesizer player Patrick Gleeson
, one of the first musicians to play synthesizer on any jazz recording, introduced the instrument on Crossings, released in 1972, one of a handful of influential electronic jazz/fusion recordings to feature synthesizer that same year. On Crossings (as well as on I Sing the Body Electric), the synthesizer is used more as an improvisatory global orchestration device than as a strictly melodic instrument. This reflected Gleeson's (and Powell's) interest in contemporary European electronic music techniques and in the West Coast synthesis techniques of Morton Subotnick
and other contemporaries, several of whom were resident at one time or another, as was Gleeson, at The Mills College Tape Music Center. An early review of Crossings in Downbeat magazine complained about the synthesizer, but a few years later the magazine noted in a cover story on Gleeson that he was "a pioneer" in the field of electronics in jazz. Gleeson used a modular Moog III
for the recording of the album, but used an ARP 2600
synthesizer, and occasionally an ARP Soloist for the group's live performances. On Sextant Gleeson used the more compact ARP synthesizers instead of the larger Moog III for both studio and live performances. In the albums following The Crossings, Hancock started to play synth himself and unlike Gleeson, he plays it as a melodical and rhythm instrument just like electric pianos.
Hancock's three records released in 1971–1973, became later known as the "Mwandishi" albums, so-called after a Swahili
name Hancock sometimes used during this era (Mwandishi is Swahili for writer). The first two, including Fat Albert Rotunda
were made available on the 2-CD set Mwandishi: the Complete Warner Bros. Recordings, released in 1994, but are now sold as individual CD editions. Of the three electronic albums, Sextant
is probably the most experimental since the Arp synthesizers are used extensively, and some advanced improvisation ("post-modal free impressionism") is found on the tracks "Hornets" and "Hidden Shadows" (which is in the meter
19/4). "Hornets" was later revised on the 2001 album Future2Future
as "Virtual Hornets".
Among the instruments Hancock and Gleeson used were Fender Rhodes piano, ARP Odyssey
, ARP 2600
, ARP Pro Soloist
Synthesizer, a Mellotron
and the Moog synthesizer
III.
All three Warner Bros. albums Fat Albert Rotunda
, Mwandishi
, and Crossings, were remastered in 2001 and released in Europe but were not released in the U.S.A. as of June 2005. In the Winter of 2006–2007 a remastered edition of Crossings was announced and scheduled for release in the Spring.
y" music. The Mwandishi albums – though these days seen as respected early fusion recordings – had seen mixed reviews and poor sales, so it is probable that Hancock was motivated by financial concerns as well as artistic restlessness. Hancock was also bothered by the fact that many people did not understand avant-garde music. He explained that he loved funk
music, especially Sly Stone
's music, so he wanted to try to make funk himself.
He gathered a new band, which he called The Headhunters
, keeping only Maupin from the sextet and adding bassist Paul Jackson
, percussionist Bill Summers, and drummer Harvey Mason
. The album Head Hunters, released in 1973, was a major hit and crossed over to pop audiences, though it prompted criticism from some jazz fans. Head Hunters was recorded at Different Fur
studios.
Despite charges of "selling out
", Stephen Erlewine of Allmusic positively reviewed the album amongst other friendly critics, saying, "Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital three decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz
, but funk
, soul
, and hip-hop
."
Mason was replaced by Mike Clark, and the band released a second album, Thrust
, the following year. (A live album from a Japan performance, consisting of compositions from those first two Head Hunters releases was released in 1975 as Flood
. The record has since been released on CD in Japan.) This was almost as well-received as its predecessor, if not attaining the same level of commercial success. The Headhunters made another successful album (called Survival of the Fittest) without Hancock, while Hancock himself started to make even more commercial albums, often featuring members of the band, but no longer billed as The Headhunters. The Headhunters reunited with Hancock in 1998 for Return of the Headhunters, and a version of the band (featuring Jackson and Clark) continues to play live and record.
In 1973, Hancock composed his second masterful soundtrack to the controversial film The Spook Who Sat By The Door. Then in 1974, Hancock also composed the soundtrack to the first Death Wish
film. One of his memorable songs, "Joanna's Theme", would later be re-recorded in 1997 on his duet album with Wayne Shorter
1 + 1
.
Hancock's next jazz-funk albums of the 1970s were Man-Child
(1975), and Secrets (1976), which point toward the more commercial direction Hancock would take over the next decade. These albums feature the members of the 'Headhunters' band, but also a variety of other musicians in important roles.
. There was constant speculation that one day Davis would reunite with his classic band, but he never did so. VSOP recorded several live albums in the late 1970s, including VSOP
(1976), and VSOP: The Quintet
(1977).
In 1978, Hancock recorded a duet with Chick Corea
, who had replaced him in the Miles Davis band a decade earlier. He also released a solo acoustic piano album titled The Piano (1978), which, like so many Hancock albums at the time, was initially released only in Japan. (It was finally released in the US in 2004.) Several other Japan-only releases have yet to surface in the US, such as Dedication
(1974), VSOP: Tempest in the Colosseum (1977), and Direct Step
(1978). Live Under the Sky
was a VSOP album remastered for the US in 2004, and included an entire second concert from the July 1979 tour.
From 1978–1982, Hancock recorded many albums consisting of jazz-inflected disco
and pop music, beginning with Sunlight (featuring guest musicians like Tony Williams and Jaco Pastorius
on the last track) (1978). Singing through a vocoder
, he earned a British hit, "I Thought It Was You", although critics were unimpressed. This led to more vocoder on the 1979 follow-up, Feets, Don't Fail Me Now
, which gave him another UK hit in "You Bet Your Love". Albums such as Monster (1980), Magic Windows
(1981), and Lite Me Up
(1982) were some of Hancock's most criticized and unwelcomed albums, the market at the time being somewhat saturated with similar pop-jazz hybrids from the likes of former bandmate Freddie Hubbard. Hancock himself had quite a limited role in some of those albums, leaving singing, composing and even producing to others. Mr. Hands (1980) is perhaps the one album during this period that was critically acclaimed. To the delight of many fans, there were no vocals on the album, and one track featured Jaco Pastorius
on bass. The album contained a wide variety of different styles, including a disco instrumental song, a Latin-jazz number and an electronic piece in which Hancock plays alone with the help of computers.
Hancock also found time to record more traditional jazz while creating more commercially oriented music. He toured with Tony Williams and Ron Carter
in 1981, recording Herbie Hancock Trio
, a five-track live album released only in Japan. A month later, he recorded Quartet with Wynton Marsalis
, released in the US the following year. Hancock, Williams and Carter toured internationally with Wynton and his brother Branford Marsalis
in what was affectionately known as "VSOP II". This quintet can be heard on Marsalis' debut album on Columbia (1981). In 1982 he contributed to the Simple Minds
album New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84), playing a synthesizer solo on the track 'Hunter and The Hunted'.
In 1983, Hancock had a mainstream
hit with the Grammy-award winning instrumental single "Rockit
" from the album Future Shock. It was perhaps the first mainstream single to feature scratching
, and also featured an innovative animated music video which was directed by Godley and Creme and showed several robot-like artworks by Jim Whiting
. The video was a hit on MTV and reached No.8 in the UK. The video won five different categories at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards
. This single ushered in a collaboration with noted bassist and producer Bill Laswell
. Hancock experimented with electronic music on a string of three LPs produced by Laswell: Future Shock (1983), Sound-System
(1984) and Perfect Machine
(1988). Despite the success of "Rockit", Hancock's trio of Laswell-produced albums (particularly the latter two) are among the most critically derided of his entire career, perhaps even more so than his erstwhile pop-jazz experiments. Hancock's level of actual contribution to these albums was also questioned, with some critics contending that the Laswell albums should have been labelled "Bill Laswell featuring Herbie Hancock".
During this period, he appeared onstage at the Grammy awards with Stevie Wonder
, Howard Jones
, and Thomas Dolby
, in a famous synthesizer jam
(The video on Youtube can be found here.). Lesser known works from the 80s are the live album Jazz Africa
and the studio album Village Life
(1984) which were recorded with Gambian kora
player Foday Musa Suso
. Also, in 1985 he performed as a guest on the album So Red The Rose
by the Duran Duran
shoot off group Arcadia
. He also provided introductory and closing comments for the PBS rebroadcast in the United States of the BBC
educational series from the mid-1980s, Rockschool
(not to be confused with the most recent Gene Simmons' Rock School series).
In 1986, Hancock performed and acted in the film 'Round Midnight
. He also wrote the score/soundtrack, for which he won an Academy Award for Original Music Score
. Often he would write music for TV commercials. "Maiden Voyage
", in fact, started out as a cologne advertisement. At the end of the Perfect Machine tour, Hancock decided to leave Columbia Records after a 15-plus-year relationship.
As of June 2005, almost half of his Columbia recordings have been remastered. The first three US releases, Sextant
, Head Hunters and Thrust
as well as the last four releases Future Shock, Sound-System
, the soundtrack to Round Midnight
and Perfect Machine
. Everything released in America from Man-Child
to Quartet has yet to be remastered. Some albums, made and initially released in the US, were remastered between 1999 and 2001 in other countries such as Magic Windows
and Monster. Hancock also re-released some of his Japan-only releases in the West, such as The Piano.
After leaving Columbia, Hancock took a break. Then, with friends Ron Carter
, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter
, and Davis admirer Wallace Roney
, they recorded A Tribute to Miles
which was released in 1994. The album contained two live recordings and studio recording classics with Roney playing Davis's part as trumpet player. The album won a Grammy for best group album. He also toured with Jack DeJohnette
, Dave Holland
and Pat Metheny
in 1990 on their Parallel Realities tour, which included a memorable performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival
in July 1990.
Hancock's next album, Dis Is Da Drum released in 1994 saw him return to Acid Jazz
. Also in 1994, Hancock appeared on the Red Hot Organization
's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time Magazine.
1995's The New Standard
found him and an all-star band including John Scofield
, Jack DeJohnette
and Michael Brecker
interpreting pop songs by Nirvana
, Stevie Wonder
, The Beatles
, Prince
, Peter Gabriel
and others. A 1997 duet album with Wayne Shorter titled 1 + 1
was successful, the song "Aung San Suu Kyi
" winning the Grammy Award
for Best Instrumental Composition, and Hancock also achieved great success in 1998 with his album Gershwin's World
which featured inventive readings of George
& Ira Gershwin
standards by Hancock and a plethora of guest stars including Stevie Wonder
, Joni Mitchell
and Shorter. Hancock toured the world in the support of Gershwin's World
with a sextet that featured Cyro Baptista
, Terri Lynne Carrington, Ira Coleman, Eli Degibri
and Eddie Henderson
.
In 2001, Hancock recorded Future2Future
, which reunited Hancock with Bill Laswell and featured doses of electronica
as well as turntablist Rob Swift
of The X-Ecutioners
. Hancock later toured with the band, and released a live concert DVD with a different lineup which also included the "Rockit" music video. Also in 2001, Hancock partnered with Michael Brecker
and Roy Hargrove
to record a live concert album saluting Davis and John Coltrane
called Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall
recorded live in Toronto. The threesome toured t support the album, and have toured on and off through 2005.
2005 saw the release of a duet album called Possibilities
. It features duets with Carlos Santana
, Paul Simon
, Annie Lennox
, John Mayer
, Christina Aguilera
, Sting and others. In 2006, Possibilities
was nominated for Grammy awards in two categories: "A Song For You", featuring Christina Aguilera
was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
, and "Gelo No Montanha", featuring Trey Anastasio
on guitar was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Performance
. Neither nomination resulted in an award.
Also in 2005, Hancock toured Europe with a new quartet that included Benin
ese guitarist Lionel Loueke
, and explored textures ranging from ambient
to straight jazz to African music. Plus, during the Summer of 2005, Hancock re-staffed the famous Head Hunters and went on tour with them, including a performance at The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.
However, this lineup did not consist of any of the original Headhunters musicians. The group included Marcus Miller
, Terri Lyne Carrington
, Lionel Loueke
and John Mayer
. Hancock also served as the first artist in residence for Bonnaroo that summer.
Also in 2006, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
(which bought out Hancock's old label, Columbia Records) released the two-disc retrospective The Essential Herbie Hancock. This two-disc set is the first compilation of Herbie's work at Warner Bros. Records
, Blue Note Records
, Columbia and at Verve
/Polygram. This became Hancock's second major compilation of work since the 2002 Columbia-only "The Herbie Hancock Box" which was released at first in a plastic 4x4 cube then re-released in 2004 in a long box set. Hancock also in 2006, recorded a new song with Josh Groban
and Eric Mouquet (co-founder of Deep Forest
) titled "Machine". It is featured on Josh Groban's CD "Awake". Hancock also recorded and improvised with guitarist Lionel Loueke
on Loueke's debut album Virgin Forest on the ObliqSound label in 2006, resulting in two improvisational tracks "Le Réveil des Agneaux (The Awakening of the Lambs)" and "La Poursuite du lion (The Lion's Pursuit)".
Hancock, a longtime associate and friend of Joni Mitchell
released a 2007 album, River: The Joni Letters
, that paid tribute to her work. Norah Jones
and Tina Turner
recorded vocals, as did Corinne Bailey Rae
, and Leonard Cohen
contributed a spoken piece set to Hancock's piano. Mitchell herself also made an appearance. The album was released on September 25, simultaneously with the release of Mitchell's album Shine
. "River" was nominated for and won the 2008 Album of the Year Grammy Award, only the second jazz album ever to receive either honor. The album also won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, and the song "Both Sides Now
" was nominated for Best Instrumental Jazz Solo.
Recently Hancock performed at the Shriner's Children's Hospital Charity Fundraiser with Sheila E, Jim Brickman, Kirk Whalum and Wendy Alane Wright.
His latest work includes assisting the production of the Kanye West
track "RoboCop", found on 808s & Heartbreak
.
On June 14, 2008, Hancock performed at Rhythm on the Vine at the South Coast Winery in Temecula, California for Shriners Hospital for Children. Other performers at the event, that raised $515,000 for Shriners Hospital, were contemporary music artist Jim Brickman
, and Sheila E.
& the E. Family Band.
On January 18, 2009, Hancock performed at the We Are One concert
, marking the start of inaugural
celebrations for American President
Barack Obama
. Hancock also performed the Rhapsody in Blue
at the 2009 Classical BRIT Awards
with classical pianist Lang Lang
. Hancock was named as the Los Angeles Philharmonic
's creative chair for jazz for 2010–12. In June 2010, Hancock released his newest album, The Imagine Project
.
On June 5, 2010, Hancock received an Alumni Award from his alma mater, Grinnell College
.
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
and composer. As part of Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section
Rhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop
Post-bop
Post-bop is a term for a form of small-combo jazz music that evolved in the early-to-mid sixties. The genre's origins lie in seminal work by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
" sound. He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace music synthesizers and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
music (characterized by syncopated
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
drum beats). Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success among pop audiences. His music embraces elements of funk and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. In his jazz improvisation, he possesses a unique creative blend of jazz, blues, and modern classical music, with harmonic stylings much like the styles of Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
and Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
.
Hancock's best-known solo works include "Cantaloupe Island
Cantaloupe Island
Cantaloupe Island is a jazz standard composed by Herbie Hancock and recorded on his 1964 album Empyrean Isles. during his early years as one of the members of Miles Davis '60s quintet. It is one of the very first examples of a modal jazz composition set to a funky beat...
", "Watermelon Man" (later performed by dozens of musicians, including bandleader Mongo Santamaría
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist. He is most famous for being the composer of the jazz standard "Afro Blue," recorded by John Coltrane among others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he played with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All...
), "Maiden Voyage
Maiden Voyage (composition)
"Maiden Voyage" is a jazz composition by Herbie Hancock from his 1965 album Maiden Voyage. It features Hancock's quartet – trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams – with additional saxophonist George Coleman...
", "Chameleon
Chameleon (composition)
"Chameleon" is a jazz standard composed by Herbie Hancock in collaboration with Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson and Harvey Mason, all of whom also performed the original 15'44" version on the 1973 landmark album Head Hunters featuring solos by Hancock and Maupin....
", and the singles "I Thought It Was You" and "Rockit
Rockit
"Rockit" is a song recorded by Herbie Hancock. It was released as a single from his 1983 album Future Shock. The song was written by Hancock, bass guitarist Bill Laswell, and synthesizer/drum machine programmer Michael Beinhorn.-History:...
". His 2007 tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
River: The Joni Letters
River: The Joni Letters
River: The Joni Letters is the 2007 album by Herbie Hancock. His 47th studio album, it was released on September 25, 2007 by Verve Records. The tribute album is a homage to Joni Mitchell, a longtime associate and friend of Hancock...
won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year
Grammy Award for Album of the Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...
, only the second jazz album ever to win the award after Getz/Gilberto
Getz/Gilberto
Getz/Gilberto is a jazz bossa nova album released in 1964 by the American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto, and featuring composer and pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim. Its release created a bossa nova craze in the United States and internationally...
in 1965.
As a member of Soka Gakkai International (SGI), Hancock is an adherent of Nichiren Buddhism
Nichiren Buddhism
Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren...
, a school of Mahayana Buddhism.
On 22 July 2011 at a ceremony in Paris, Hancock was named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of Intercultural Dialogue.
Early life and career
Hancock was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois. Like many jazz pianists, Hancock started with a classical music education. He studied from age seven, and his talent was recognized early. Considered a child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
, he played the first movement of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Piano Concerto No. 5
Piano Concerto No. 5 (Mozart)
Piano Concerto No. 5 in D major, K. 175, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1773, at the age of 17. It is Mozart's first fully original piano concerto; his previous efforts were based on works by other composers.-Instrumentation:...
at a young people's concert with the Chicago Symphony
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
at age eleven.
Through his teens, Hancock never had a jazz teacher, but developed his ear and sense of harmony. He was also influenced by records of the vocal group the Hi-Lo's
The Hi-Lo's
The Hi-Lo's were an a cappella quartet formed in 1953. The group's name is reportedly a reference to their extreme vocal and physical ranges .-History:The group consisted of Gene Puerling , Bob Strasen , Bob Morse...
:
..by the time I actually heard the Hi-Lo's, I started picking that stuff out; my ear was happening. I could hear stuff and that's when I really learned some much farther-out voicings -like the harmonies I used on 'Speak Like a Child' -just being able to do that. I really got that from Clare FischerClare FischerClare Fischer is an American composer, arranger, pianist and organist. His parents were of German, French, Irish-Scot, and English backgrounds.-Early years:...
's arrangements for the Hi-Lo's. Clare FischerClare FischerClare Fischer is an American composer, arranger, pianist and organist. His parents were of German, French, Irish-Scot, and English backgrounds.-Early years:...
was a major influence on my harmonic concept... He and Bill EvansBill EvansWilliam John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, and RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
and Gil EvansGil EvansGil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
, finally. You know, that's where it music after two years.
In 1960, he heard Chris Anderson
Chris Anderson (piano)
Chris Anderson was a jazz pianist who might be best known as an influence on Herbie Hancock....
play just once, and begged him to accept him as a student. Hancock often mentions Anderson as his harmonic guru. Hancock left Grinnell College
Grinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
, moved to Chicago and began working with Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
and Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
, during which period he also took courses at Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University is a coeducational, private university with campuses in Chicago, Illinois and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university is named in honor of both former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university's curriculum is based on...
. (He later graduated from Grinnell, which also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1972). Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
was attending the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
in New York at the time and suggested that Hancock study composition with Vittorio Giannini
Vittorio Giannini
Vittorio Giannini was a neoromantic American composer of operas, songs, symphonies, and band works.-Life and work:...
, which he did for a short time in 1960. The pianist quickly earned a reputation, and played subsequent sessions with Oliver Nelson
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer.-Early life and career:...
and Phil Woods
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
. He recorded his first solo album Takin' Off
Takin' Off
Takin' Off is the debut album of jazz pianist Herbie Hancock originally released in 1962 for the Blue Note label as BST 84109. The recording session included Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and veteran Dexter Gordon on tenor saxophone. The album was a typical hard bop LP, with its characteristic two...
for Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
in 1962. "Watermelon Man" (from Takin' Off) was to provide Mongo Santamaría
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist. He is most famous for being the composer of the jazz standard "Afro Blue," recorded by John Coltrane among others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he played with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All...
with a hit single, but more importantly for Hancock, Takin' Off caught the attention of Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, who was at that time assembling a new band. Hancock was introduced to Davis by the young drummer Tony Williams, a member of the new band.
Miles Davis quintet and Blue Note
Hancock received considerable attention when, in May 1963, he joined Miles Davis's "second great quintet." This new band was essentially Miles Davis surrounded by fresh, new talent. Davis personally sought out Hancock, whom he saw as one of the most promising talents in jazz. The rhythm sectionRhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
Davis organized was young but effective, comprising bassist Ron Carter
Ron Carter
Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
, 17-year-old drummer Tony Williams, and Hancock on piano. After George Coleman
George Coleman
George Edward Coleman is an American hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s.-Biography:...
and Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
each took a turn at the saxophone spot, the quintet would gel with Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
on tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
. This quintet is often regarded as one of the finest jazz ensembles, and the rhythm section
Rhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
has been especially praised for its innovation and flexibility.
The second great quintet was where Hancock found his own voice as a pianist. Not only did he find new ways to use common chords, but he also popularized chords that had not previously been used in jazz. Hancock also developed a unique taste for "orchestral" accompaniment – using quartal harmony and Debussy-like harmonies, with stark contrasts then unheard of in jazz. With Williams and Carter he wove a labyrinth of rhythmic intricacy on, around and over existing melodic and chordal schemes. In the later half of the sixties their approach became so sophisticated and unorthodox that conventional chord changes
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
would hardly be discernible; hence their improvisational concept would become known as "Time, No Changes".
While in Davis's band, Hancock also found time to record dozens of sessions for the Blue Note label
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
, both under his own name and as a sideman
Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
with other musicians such as Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
, Tony Williams, Grant Green
Grant Green
Grant Green was a jazz guitarist and composer....
, Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson is a jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His vibraphone playing is suggestive of the style of Milt Jackson in its free-flowing melodicism, but his sense of harmony and group interaction is thoroughly modern...
, Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
, Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
, Kenny Dorham
Kenny Dorham
McKinley Howard Dorham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer born in Fairfield, Texas. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did...
, Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
, Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan
Edward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
and Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
.
His albums Empyrean Isles
Empyrean Isles
Empyrean Isles is the fourth album by American jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, recorded on June 17, 1964 for Blue Note Records. It features the debut of two of his most popular compositions, "One Finger Snap" and "Cantaloupe Island"....
(1964) and Maiden Voyage (1965) were to be two of the most famous and influential jazz LPs of the sixties, winning praise for both their innovation and accessibility (the latter demonstrated by the subsequent enormous popularity of the Maiden Voyage title track as a jazz standard, and by the jazz rap
Jazz rap
Jazz rap is a sub-genre of hip hop which incorporates jazz influences, developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The lyrics are often based on political consciousness, Afrocentricity, and general positivism...
group US3
US3
Us3 is a jazz-rap group founded in London in 1991. Their name was inspired by a Horace Parlan recording produced by Alfred Lion, the founder of Blue Note Records. On their debut album, Hand on the Torch, Us3 used samples from the Blue Note Records catalogue, all originally produced by...
having a hit single with "Cantaloop
Cantaloop
"Cantaloop " is a song by jazz-rap group Us3 from their 1993 album Hand on the Torch.It features a sample of Herbie Hancock's song "Cantaloupe Island", and reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group's only top 40 single....
" (derived from "Cantaloupe Island" on Empyrean Isles) some twenty five years later). Empyrean Isles featured the Davis rhythm section of Hancock, Carter and Williams with the addition of Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
on cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
, while Maiden Voyage also added former Davis saxophonist George Coleman
George Coleman
George Edward Coleman is an American hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s.-Biography:...
(with Hubbard remaining on trumpet). Both albums are regarded as among the principal foundations of the post-bop
Post-bop
Post-bop is a term for a form of small-combo jazz music that evolved in the early-to-mid sixties. The genre's origins lie in seminal work by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
style.
Hancock also recorded several less-well-known but still critically acclaimed albums with larger ensembles – My Point of View
My Point of View
My Point of View is the second album by pianist Herbie Hancock. It was released in 1963 on Blue Note Records as BLP 4126 and BST 84126.-Track listing:All compositions by Herbie Hancock.#"Blind Man, Blind Man" – 8:19#"A Tribute to Someone" – 8:45...
(1963), Speak Like a Child
Speak Like a Child (album)
Speak Like a Child is the sixth album for Blue Note Records by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, recorded and released in 1968. The evocative cover photograph was taken by David Bythewood, an acquaintance of Hancock. The lady on the cover is Hancock's then-girlfriend, Gigi Meixner...
(1968) and The Prisoner
The Prisoner (album)
The Prisoner is the seventh album by Herbie Hancock, his final on the Blue Note label, released and recorded in 1969. His next record would be on Warner Bros. Records. Hancock confessed in 1969 that he had been able to get close to his real self with this album than on any other previous ones...
(1969) featured flugelhorn
Flugelhorn
The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
, alto flute
Alto flute
The alto flute is a type of Western concert flute, a musical instrument in the woodwind family. It is the next extension downward of the C flute after the flûte d'amour. It is characterized by its distinct, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range...
and bass trombone. 1963's Inventions and Dimensions
Inventions and Dimensions
Inventions and Dimensions is the third album by Herbie Hancock, recorded on August 30, 1963 for Blue Note Records. The album was also re-released in the mid-1970s as Succotash credited to Hancock and Willie Bobo.-Track listing:...
was an album of almost entirely improvised music, teaming Hancock with bassist Paul Chambers
Paul Chambers
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was a jazz bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, intonation, and virtuosic...
and two Latin percussionists, Willie Bobo
Willie Bobo
Willie Bobo was the stage name of William Correa , an American jazz percussionist.-Biography:William Correa grew up in Spanish Harlem, New York City. He made his name in Latin Jazz, specifically Afro-Cuban jazz, in the 1960s and '70s, with the timbales becoming his favoured instrument...
and Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez.
During this period, Hancock also composed the score to Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
's film Blowup
Blowup
Blowup is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, his first English-language film.It tells of a British photographer's accidental involvement with a murder, inspired by Julio Cortázar's short story, "Las babas del diablo" or "The Devil's Drool" , translated also as Blow-Up, and by the life...
, the first of many soundtracks he recorded in his career.
Davis had begun incorporating elements of rock and popular music into his recordings by the end of Hancock's tenure with the band. Despite some initial reluctance, Hancock began doubling on electric keyboards including the Fender Rhodes electric piano
Electric piano
An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
at Davis's insistence. Hancock adapted quickly to the new instruments, which proved to be instrumental in his future artistic endeavors.
Under the pretext that he had returned late from a honeymoon in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Hancock was dismissed from Davis's band. In the summer of 1968 Hancock formed his own sextet. However, although Davis soon disbanded his quintet to search for a new sound, Hancock, despite his departure from the working band, continued to appear on Miles Davis records for the next few years. Noteworthy appearances include In a Silent Way
In a Silent Way
In a Silent Way is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released July 30, 1969 on Columbia Records. Produced by Teo Macero, the album was recorded in one session date on February 18, 1969 at CBS 30th Street Studio B in New York City. Incorporating elements of classical sonata form,...
, A Tribute to Jack Johnson
A Tribute to Jack Johnson
A Tribute to Jack Johnson is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released February 24, 1971 on Columbia Records. It also serves as the soundtrack for a documentary by Bill Cayton about the heavyweight world champion boxer Jack Johnson....
and On the Corner
On the Corner
On the Corner is a studio album by jazz musician Miles Davis, recorded in June and July 1972 and released later that year on Columbia Records. It was scorned by critics at the time of its release and was one of Davis's worst-selling recordings...
.
Fat Albert and Mwandishi
Hancock left Blue NoteBlue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
in 1969, signing up with Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
. In 1969, Hancock composed the soundtrack for the Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
animated children's television show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids is an animated series created, produced, and hosted by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including Fat Albert himself. Filmation was the production company for the series. The show premiered in 1972 and ran until 1985...
. Titled Fat Albert Rotunda
Fat Albert Rotunda
Fat Albert Rotunda is the eighth album by jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock, released in 1969. It also was the first album that Hancock had on the Warner Bros. Records label, since leaving Blue Note Records.-About the Album:...
, the album was mainly an R&B-influenced album with strong jazz overtones. One of the jazzier songs on the record, "Tell Me A Bedtime Story", was later re-worked as a more electronic sounding song for the Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
album, Sounds...and Stuff Like That.
Hancock became fascinated with accumulating musical gadgets and toys. Together with the profound influence of Davis's Bitches Brew
Bitches Brew
Bitches Brew is a studio double album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in April 1970 on Columbia Records. The album continued his experimentation with electric instruments previously featured on his critically acclaimed In a Silent Way album...
, this fascination would culminate in a series of albums in which electronic instruments are coupled with acoustic instruments.
Hancock's first ventures into electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
started with a sextet
Sextet
A sextet is a formation containing exactly six members. It is commonly associated with vocal or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six similar or related objects are considered a single unit....
comprising Hancock, bassist Buster Williams
Buster Williams
Charles Anthony Williams is an American jazz bassist.-Biography:Williams has gained prestige among jazz musicians as a solid supportive player. Since the early 1960s, he has made subtle swing, a precise rhythm and superb technique the landmark of his playing...
and drummer Billy Hart
Billy Hart
William "Billy" Hart is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history.-Biography:Early on Hart performed in Washington, D.C...
, and a trio of horn players: Eddie Henderson
Eddie Henderson (musician)
Eddie Henderson is an American jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player. Henderson's influences include Booker Little, Clifford Brown, Woody Shaw and Miles Davis.-Family influence and early music history:...
(trumpet), Julian Priester
Julian Priester
Julian Priester is an American jazz trombonist and composer.He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock.-Biography:...
(trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
), and multireedist
Multireedist
Multireedist is a term sometimes used to describe a musician who is a capable performer on more than one reed instrument. Many reed instruments are similar enough that if a musician plays one, they are expected to be able to play the other. Examples of this are the oboe and English horn or the...
Bennie Maupin
Bennie Maupin
Bennie Maupin is a Detroit Michigan jazz multireedist. He performs on various saxophones, flute and bass clarinet.He is probably best known for his participation in Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi sextet and Headhunters band, and for performing on Miles Davis's seminal fusion record, Bitches Brew...
. Dr. Patrick Gleeson was eventually added to the mix to play and program the synthesizers. In fact, Hancock was one of the first jazz pianists to completely embrace electronic keyboards.
The sextet, later a septet with the addition of Gleeson, made three experimental albums under Hancock's name: Mwandishi (1971), Crossings (1972) (both on Warner Bros. Records), and Sextant (1973) (released on Columbia Records); two more, Realization and Inside Out, were recorded under Henderson's name with essentially the same personnel. The music often had very free improvisations and showed influence from the electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
of some contemporary classical composers.
Synthesizer player Patrick Gleeson
Patrick Gleeson
Patrick Gleeson is a musician, synthesizer pioneer, composer and producer, from California, USA.Gleeson began experimenting with electronic music in the mid-'60s at the San Francisco Tape Music Center using a Buchla synth and other devices....
, one of the first musicians to play synthesizer on any jazz recording, introduced the instrument on Crossings, released in 1972, one of a handful of influential electronic jazz/fusion recordings to feature synthesizer that same year. On Crossings (as well as on I Sing the Body Electric), the synthesizer is used more as an improvisatory global orchestration device than as a strictly melodic instrument. This reflected Gleeson's (and Powell's) interest in contemporary European electronic music techniques and in the West Coast synthesis techniques of Morton Subotnick
Morton Subotnick
Morton Subotnick is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch...
and other contemporaries, several of whom were resident at one time or another, as was Gleeson, at The Mills College Tape Music Center. An early review of Crossings in Downbeat magazine complained about the synthesizer, but a few years later the magazine noted in a cover story on Gleeson that he was "a pioneer" in the field of electronics in jazz. Gleeson used a modular Moog III
Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
for the recording of the album, but used an ARP 2600
ARP 2600
The ARP 2600 is a semi-modular analog subtractive audio synthesizer, designed by Alan R. Pearlman , and manufactured by his company, ARP Instruments, Inc...
synthesizer, and occasionally an ARP Soloist for the group's live performances. On Sextant Gleeson used the more compact ARP synthesizers instead of the larger Moog III for both studio and live performances. In the albums following The Crossings, Hancock started to play synth himself and unlike Gleeson, he plays it as a melodical and rhythm instrument just like electric pianos.
Hancock's three records released in 1971–1973, became later known as the "Mwandishi" albums, so-called after a Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
name Hancock sometimes used during this era (Mwandishi is Swahili for writer). The first two, including Fat Albert Rotunda
Fat Albert Rotunda
Fat Albert Rotunda is the eighth album by jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock, released in 1969. It also was the first album that Hancock had on the Warner Bros. Records label, since leaving Blue Note Records.-About the Album:...
were made available on the 2-CD set Mwandishi: the Complete Warner Bros. Recordings, released in 1994, but are now sold as individual CD editions. Of the three electronic albums, Sextant
Sextant (album)
Sextant is the eleventh album by Herbie Hancock, and the last album with his Mwandishi Band.-About the Album:Released in 1973 but recorded in 1972, Sextant was Herbie Hancock's first album on Columbia Records. It was a complex, harmonically and rhythmically challenging musical statement...
is probably the most experimental since the Arp synthesizers are used extensively, and some advanced improvisation ("post-modal free impressionism") is found on the tracks "Hornets" and "Hidden Shadows" (which is in the meter
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
19/4). "Hornets" was later revised on the 2001 album Future2Future
Future2Future
Future2Future is the forty-third album by Herbie Hancock. Hancock reunited with bass player Bill Laswell and the two of them tried to recapture the success of the three previous albums.In yet another innovative stylistic move, Herbie reunited with Bill Laswell in the creation of a 21st Century...
as "Virtual Hornets".
Among the instruments Hancock and Gleeson used were Fender Rhodes piano, ARP Odyssey
ARP Odyssey
The ARP Odyssey was an analog synthesizer introduced in 1972. Responding to pressure from Moog Music to create a portable, affordable "performance" synthesizer, ARP scaled down its popular 2600 synthesizer and created the Odyssey, which became the best-selling synthesizer they made.The Odyssey is...
, ARP 2600
ARP 2600
The ARP 2600 is a semi-modular analog subtractive audio synthesizer, designed by Alan R. Pearlman , and manufactured by his company, ARP Instruments, Inc...
, ARP Pro Soloist
ARP Pro Soloist
The ARP Pro Soloist was one of the first commercially successful preset electronic music synthesizers. Introduced by ARP Instruments, Inc. in 1972, it replaced the similar ARP Soloist in the company's lineup of portable performance instruments.-History:...
Synthesizer, a Mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
and the Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
III.
All three Warner Bros. albums Fat Albert Rotunda
Fat Albert Rotunda
Fat Albert Rotunda is the eighth album by jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock, released in 1969. It also was the first album that Hancock had on the Warner Bros. Records label, since leaving Blue Note Records.-About the Album:...
, Mwandishi
Mwandishi
Mwandishi is the ninth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released in 1971. It is one of Hancock's first departures from the traditional idioms of jazz as well as the onset of a new, creative and original style which produced an appeal to a wider audience, before his 1973 album, Head Hunters...
, and Crossings, were remastered in 2001 and released in Europe but were not released in the U.S.A. as of June 2005. In the Winter of 2006–2007 a remastered edition of Crossings was announced and scheduled for release in the Spring.
Headhunters and Death Wish
After the sometimes "airy" and decidedly experimental "Mwandishi" albums, Hancock was eager to perform more "earthy" and "funkFunk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
y" music. The Mwandishi albums – though these days seen as respected early fusion recordings – had seen mixed reviews and poor sales, so it is probable that Hancock was motivated by financial concerns as well as artistic restlessness. Hancock was also bothered by the fact that many people did not understand avant-garde music. He explained that he loved funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
music, especially Sly Stone
Sly Stone
Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...
's music, so he wanted to try to make funk himself.
He gathered a new band, which he called The Headhunters
The Headhunters
The Headhunters are an American jazz-funk fusion band, best known for their albums they recorded as a backing band of jazz keyboard player Herbie Hancock during the 1970s. Hancock's debut album with the group, Head Hunters, is one of the best-selling jazz/fusion records of all time.-History:Herbie...
, keeping only Maupin from the sextet and adding bassist Paul Jackson
Paul Jackson (bassist)
Paul Jackson is an American jazz bass guitarist and composer. He has played with many of the great jazz artists, most notably playing bass on several of Herbie Hancock's seminal albums, Head Hunters, Thrust, and others. He was born in Oakland, California and began playing bass at the age of nine...
, percussionist Bill Summers, and drummer Harvey Mason
Harvey Mason
Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...
. The album Head Hunters, released in 1973, was a major hit and crossed over to pop audiences, though it prompted criticism from some jazz fans. Head Hunters was recorded at Different Fur
Different Fur
Different Fur is a recording studio located in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, and is located at 3470 19th Street...
studios.
Despite charges of "selling out
Selling out
"Selling out" is the compromising of integrity, morality, or principles in exchange for money or "success" . It is commonly associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream audience...
", Stephen Erlewine of Allmusic positively reviewed the album amongst other friendly critics, saying, "Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital three decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, but funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, and hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
."
Mason was replaced by Mike Clark, and the band released a second album, Thrust
Thrust (album)
Thrust is a jazz fusion album by Herbie Hancock, released in 1974 on Columbia Records. It served as a follow-up to Hancock's album, Head Hunters , and achieved similar commercial success, as the album reached as high as number 13 on the Billboard Hot 200 listing...
, the following year. (A live album from a Japan performance, consisting of compositions from those first two Head Hunters releases was released in 1975 as Flood
Flood (Herbie Hancock album)
Flood is the eighteenth album by Herbie Hancock. It was released only in Japan in 1975. It features the Headhunters Band, performing their hits from the Head Hunters, Thrust and Man-Child albums...
. The record has since been released on CD in Japan.) This was almost as well-received as its predecessor, if not attaining the same level of commercial success. The Headhunters made another successful album (called Survival of the Fittest) without Hancock, while Hancock himself started to make even more commercial albums, often featuring members of the band, but no longer billed as The Headhunters. The Headhunters reunited with Hancock in 1998 for Return of the Headhunters, and a version of the band (featuring Jackson and Clark) continues to play live and record.
In 1973, Hancock composed his second masterful soundtrack to the controversial film The Spook Who Sat By The Door. Then in 1974, Hancock also composed the soundtrack to the first Death Wish
Death Wish (film)
Death Wish is a 1974 crime thriller film loosely based on the novel Death Wish by Brian Garfield. The film was directed by Michael Winner and stars Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, a man who becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter is sexually assaulted by muggers.The film was...
film. One of his memorable songs, "Joanna's Theme", would later be re-recorded in 1997 on his duet album with Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
1 + 1
1 + 1 (album)
-Personnel:*Herbie Hancock – piano, producer*Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone, producer...
.
Hancock's next jazz-funk albums of the 1970s were Man-Child
Man-Child
Man-Child is the seventeenth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. The album is arguably one of his most funk influenced albums and it represents his further departure from the "spacey, higher atmosphere jazz," as he referred to it, of his earlier career. Hancock uses more funk based rhythms around...
(1975), and Secrets (1976), which point toward the more commercial direction Hancock would take over the next decade. These albums feature the members of the 'Headhunters' band, but also a variety of other musicians in important roles.
Back to the Basics: VSOP and the Future Shock
During late 1970s and early 1980s, Hancock toured with his "V.S.O.P." quintet, which featured all the members of the 1960s Miles Davis quintet except Davis, who was replaced by trumpet giant Freddie HubbardFreddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
. There was constant speculation that one day Davis would reunite with his classic band, but he never did so. VSOP recorded several live albums in the late 1970s, including VSOP
VSOP (album)
V.S.O.P. is a 1976 jazz-funk fusion live album by keyboard player Herbie Hancock featuring performances by the V.S.O.P. Quintet , the Mwandishi band with Eddie Henderson on two tracks, and The Headhunters featuring Bennie Maupin and Paul Jackson.Although this album was half-fusion, half-acoustic,...
(1976), and VSOP: The Quintet
VSOP: The Quintet
V. S. O. P. The Quintet was recorded from two live performances, one at the Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, on July 16, 1977, the other at the San Diego Civic Theatre, July 18, 1977...
(1977).
In 1978, Hancock recorded a duet with Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, who had replaced him in the Miles Davis band a decade earlier. He also released a solo acoustic piano album titled The Piano (1978), which, like so many Hancock albums at the time, was initially released only in Japan. (It was finally released in the US in 2004.) Several other Japan-only releases have yet to surface in the US, such as Dedication
Dedication (Herbie Hancock album)
Dedication is the sixteenth album by Herbie Hancock. It was recorded in Japan in 1974 while Hancock was touring and first released on the Japanese CBS Sony label...
(1974), VSOP: Tempest in the Colosseum (1977), and Direct Step
Direct Step
Directstep is the twenty-fourth album by Herbie Hancock.-About the Album:Directstep, released only in Japan, was one of the earliest albums ever released on CD. Webster Lewis became second keyboardist on this album in order for Hancock to handle the multiple layers of electronic texture that he...
(1978). Live Under the Sky
VSOP: Live Under the Sky
Live Under the Sky is the twenty-eighth album by Herbie Hancock. It was performed live in Japan over two days. The first day, which took place during a furious rainstorm, was broadcast live on national television. The original release featured the first day, while the 2004 re-master/re-release...
was a VSOP album remastered for the US in 2004, and included an entire second concert from the July 1979 tour.
From 1978–1982, Hancock recorded many albums consisting of jazz-inflected disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and pop music, beginning with Sunlight (featuring guest musicians like Tony Williams and Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
on the last track) (1978). Singing through a vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
, he earned a British hit, "I Thought It Was You", although critics were unimpressed. This led to more vocoder on the 1979 follow-up, Feets, Don't Fail Me Now
Feets, Don't Fail Me Now
Feets, Don't Fail Me Now is the twenty-seventh album by Herbie Hancock.- Track listing :# "You Bet Your Love" – 7:36# "Trust Me" – 5:41...
, which gave him another UK hit in "You Bet Your Love". Albums such as Monster (1980), Magic Windows
Magic Windows (album)
Magic Windows is the thirty-second album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released in 1981.Personnel involved in this album, besides Herbie himself, include among others: Melvin "Wah Wah" Watson, Ray Parker Jr., Sylvester, Paulinho da Costa, Adrian Belew, Sheila Escovedo and Coke Escovedo.-Track...
(1981), and Lite Me Up
Lite Me Up (album)
Lite Me Up! is the thirty-third album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, in 1982.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Rod Temperton; except where indicated#"Lite Me Up!"#"Bomb"#"Gettin' to the Good Part"...
(1982) were some of Hancock's most criticized and unwelcomed albums, the market at the time being somewhat saturated with similar pop-jazz hybrids from the likes of former bandmate Freddie Hubbard. Hancock himself had quite a limited role in some of those albums, leaving singing, composing and even producing to others. Mr. Hands (1980) is perhaps the one album during this period that was critically acclaimed. To the delight of many fans, there were no vocals on the album, and one track featured Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
on bass. The album contained a wide variety of different styles, including a disco instrumental song, a Latin-jazz number and an electronic piece in which Hancock plays alone with the help of computers.
Hancock also found time to record more traditional jazz while creating more commercially oriented music. He toured with Tony Williams and Ron Carter
Ron Carter
Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
in 1981, recording Herbie Hancock Trio
Herbie Hancock Trio
Herbie Hancock Trio is the thirty-first album and the second of the same name by Herbie Hancock. .-Track listing:#"Stable Mates" - 11:05...
, a five-track live album released only in Japan. A month later, he recorded Quartet with Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
, released in the US the following year. Hancock, Williams and Carter toured internationally with Wynton and his brother Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque.-Biography:Marsalis was born...
in what was affectionately known as "VSOP II". This quintet can be heard on Marsalis' debut album on Columbia (1981). In 1982 he contributed to the Simple Minds
Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
album New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84), playing a synthesizer solo on the track 'Hunter and The Hunted'.
In 1983, Hancock had a mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....
hit with the Grammy-award winning instrumental single "Rockit
Rockit
"Rockit" is a song recorded by Herbie Hancock. It was released as a single from his 1983 album Future Shock. The song was written by Hancock, bass guitarist Bill Laswell, and synthesizer/drum machine programmer Michael Beinhorn.-History:...
" from the album Future Shock. It was perhaps the first mainstream single to feature scratching
Scratching
Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...
, and also featured an innovative animated music video which was directed by Godley and Creme and showed several robot-like artworks by Jim Whiting
Jim Whiting
Jim Whiting is a British artist and inventor. He was born in Paris and spent his early childhood in Salisbury , Zimbabwe before returning to the UK with his family in 1959...
. The video was a hit on MTV and reached No.8 in the UK. The video won five different categories at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
. This single ushered in a collaboration with noted bassist and producer Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
. Hancock experimented with electronic music on a string of three LPs produced by Laswell: Future Shock (1983), Sound-System
Sound-System (album)
Sound-System is the thirty-sixth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and the second of three albums with the Rockit Band.-About the Album:The second of the three Rockit band albums, Sound-System was another smash for Herbie Hancock....
(1984) and Perfect Machine
Perfect Machine (album)
Perfect Machine is the thirty-seventh album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, and the last with the Rockit Band.-About the Album:The last of the three Rockit band albums, Perfect Machine was also Hancock's final album for Columbia Records and is considered the least popular of the three Rockit band...
(1988). Despite the success of "Rockit", Hancock's trio of Laswell-produced albums (particularly the latter two) are among the most critically derided of his entire career, perhaps even more so than his erstwhile pop-jazz experiments. Hancock's level of actual contribution to these albums was also questioned, with some critics contending that the Laswell albums should have been labelled "Bill Laswell featuring Herbie Hancock".
During this period, he appeared onstage at the Grammy awards with Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Howard Jones
Howard Jones (musician)
Howard Jones is a musician, singer and songwriter. According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, "Jones is an accomplished singer-songwriter who was a regular chart visitor in the mid 1980s with his brand of synthpop. Jones, who was equally popular in the U.S., appeared at Live...
, and Thomas Dolby
Thomas Dolby
Thomas Dolby is an English musician and producer. Best known for his 1982 hit "She Blinded Me with Science", and 1984 single "Hyperactive!", he has also worked extensively in production and as a session musician.-Early life:Dolby was born in London, England, contrary to information in early 1980s...
, in a famous synthesizer jam
Jam band
-Ambiguity:By the late 1990s use of the term jam band also became ambiguous. An editorial at jamband.com suggested that any band of which a primary band such as Phish has done a cover of be included as jam band. The example was including New York post-punk band Talking Heads after Phish performed...
(The video on Youtube can be found here.). Lesser known works from the 80s are the live album Jazz Africa
Jazz Africa
Jazz Africa is a live album by keyboardist Herbie Hancock and Gambian kora player Foday Musa Suso. The recording took place in Los Angeles, California's Wiltern Theatre as part of the 1986 concert series Jazzvisions...
and the studio album Village Life
Village Life (album)
Village Life is an album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and Foday Musa Suso recorded live in the studio in Japan in 1985.-Track listing:# "Moon/Light" - 7:57# "Ndan Ndan Nyaria" - 9:50# "Early Warning" - 2:52...
(1984) which were recorded with Gambian kora
Kora (instrument)
The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa.-Description:A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge. It does not fit well into any one category of western instruments and would have to be...
player Foday Musa Suso
Foday Musa Suso
Foday Musa Suso is a musician and composer from the West African nation of Gambia. He is a member of the Mandinka ethnic group, and is a jali...
. Also, in 1985 he performed as a guest on the album So Red The Rose
So Red the Rose
So Red the Rose is the platinum-selling album by the Duran Duran-spinoff group Arcadia, which was released in 1985 — the only album the band ever released...
by the Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
shoot off group Arcadia
Arcadia (band)
Arcadia were the pop group formed in 1985 by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, during a break in that band's schedule. However, Roger Taylor appeared in only a few band photographs and in none of the music videos, and stated he was only to be involved in the recording side...
. He also provided introductory and closing comments for the PBS rebroadcast in the United States of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
educational series from the mid-1980s, Rockschool
Rockschool
Rockschool was a television series aired by the BBC and PBS in 1985. The series explored the history of rock music and gave instruction in popular performance techniques....
(not to be confused with the most recent Gene Simmons' Rock School series).
In 1986, Hancock performed and acted in the film 'Round Midnight
Round Midnight (film)
Round Midnight is a 1986 film directed by Bertrand Tavernier and written by David Rayfiel and Bertrand Tavernier. It tells the story of an African American tenor saxophone player in Paris in the 1950s who is befriended by an unsuccessful French graphic designer who idolizes the musician and who...
. He also wrote the score/soundtrack, for which he won an Academy Award for Original Music Score
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
. Often he would write music for TV commercials. "Maiden Voyage
Maiden Voyage (composition)
"Maiden Voyage" is a jazz composition by Herbie Hancock from his 1965 album Maiden Voyage. It features Hancock's quartet – trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams – with additional saxophonist George Coleman...
", in fact, started out as a cologne advertisement. At the end of the Perfect Machine tour, Hancock decided to leave Columbia Records after a 15-plus-year relationship.
As of June 2005, almost half of his Columbia recordings have been remastered. The first three US releases, Sextant
Sextant (album)
Sextant is the eleventh album by Herbie Hancock, and the last album with his Mwandishi Band.-About the Album:Released in 1973 but recorded in 1972, Sextant was Herbie Hancock's first album on Columbia Records. It was a complex, harmonically and rhythmically challenging musical statement...
, Head Hunters and Thrust
Thrust (album)
Thrust is a jazz fusion album by Herbie Hancock, released in 1974 on Columbia Records. It served as a follow-up to Hancock's album, Head Hunters , and achieved similar commercial success, as the album reached as high as number 13 on the Billboard Hot 200 listing...
as well as the last four releases Future Shock, Sound-System
Sound-System (album)
Sound-System is the thirty-sixth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and the second of three albums with the Rockit Band.-About the Album:The second of the three Rockit band albums, Sound-System was another smash for Herbie Hancock....
, the soundtrack to Round Midnight
Round Midnight (film)
Round Midnight is a 1986 film directed by Bertrand Tavernier and written by David Rayfiel and Bertrand Tavernier. It tells the story of an African American tenor saxophone player in Paris in the 1950s who is befriended by an unsuccessful French graphic designer who idolizes the musician and who...
and Perfect Machine
Perfect Machine (album)
Perfect Machine is the thirty-seventh album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, and the last with the Rockit Band.-About the Album:The last of the three Rockit band albums, Perfect Machine was also Hancock's final album for Columbia Records and is considered the least popular of the three Rockit band...
. Everything released in America from Man-Child
Man-Child
Man-Child is the seventeenth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. The album is arguably one of his most funk influenced albums and it represents his further departure from the "spacey, higher atmosphere jazz," as he referred to it, of his earlier career. Hancock uses more funk based rhythms around...
to Quartet has yet to be remastered. Some albums, made and initially released in the US, were remastered between 1999 and 2001 in other countries such as Magic Windows
Magic Windows (album)
Magic Windows is the thirty-second album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released in 1981.Personnel involved in this album, besides Herbie himself, include among others: Melvin "Wah Wah" Watson, Ray Parker Jr., Sylvester, Paulinho da Costa, Adrian Belew, Sheila Escovedo and Coke Escovedo.-Track...
and Monster. Hancock also re-released some of his Japan-only releases in the West, such as The Piano.
1990s and later
Ron Carter
Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
, and Davis admirer Wallace Roney
Wallace Roney
Wallace Roney is an American hard bop and post-bop trumpeter.Roney took lessons from Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie and studied with Miles Davis from 1985 until the latter's death in 1991...
, they recorded A Tribute to Miles
A Tribute to Miles
A Tribute to Miles is a tribute album by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Wallace Roney to pay homage to the their recently departed mentor, Miles Davis, who died in September 1991. Playing the part of Davis was young trumpet player Wallace Roney...
which was released in 1994. The album contained two live recordings and studio recording classics with Roney playing Davis's part as trumpet player. The album won a Grammy for best group album. He also toured with Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...
, Dave Holland
Dave Holland
Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....
and Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
in 1990 on their Parallel Realities tour, which included a memorable performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
in July 1990.
Hancock's next album, Dis Is Da Drum released in 1994 saw him return to Acid Jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...
. Also in 1994, Hancock appeared on the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time Magazine.
1995's The New Standard
The New Standard (album)
The New Standard is the fortieth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released in 1996 on Verve. It consists of jazz-fusion renditions of classic and contemporaneous rock and R&B songs.-Track listing:...
found him and an all-star band including John Scofield
John Scofield
John Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
, Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...
and Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
interpreting pop songs by Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
, Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
and others. A 1997 duet album with Wayne Shorter titled 1 + 1
1 + 1 (album)
-Personnel:*Herbie Hancock – piano, producer*Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone, producer...
was successful, the song "Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
" winning the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Instrumental Composition, and Hancock also achieved great success in 1998 with his album Gershwin's World
Gershwin's World
Gershwin's World is the forty-second album by Herbie Hancock.This album featured the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. It features several prominent musicians including Joni Mitchell, Chick Corea, Stevie Wonder, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra....
which featured inventive readings of George
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
& Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
standards by Hancock and a plethora of guest stars including Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
and Shorter. Hancock toured the world in the support of Gershwin's World
Gershwin's World
Gershwin's World is the forty-second album by Herbie Hancock.This album featured the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. It features several prominent musicians including Joni Mitchell, Chick Corea, Stevie Wonder, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra....
with a sextet that featured Cyro Baptista
Cyro Baptista
Cyro Baptista is a Brazilian musician, teacher, and recording artist specializing in percussion in the genres of jazz and world music....
, Terri Lynne Carrington, Ira Coleman, Eli Degibri
Eli Degibri
Eli Degibri is an Israeli jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger.-Early life:Degibri first began playing the mandolin at age 7 in an after school music program at the Jaffa Conservatory of Music...
and Eddie Henderson
Eddie Henderson (musician)
Eddie Henderson is an American jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player. Henderson's influences include Booker Little, Clifford Brown, Woody Shaw and Miles Davis.-Family influence and early music history:...
.
In 2001, Hancock recorded Future2Future
Future2Future
Future2Future is the forty-third album by Herbie Hancock. Hancock reunited with bass player Bill Laswell and the two of them tried to recapture the success of the three previous albums.In yet another innovative stylistic move, Herbie reunited with Bill Laswell in the creation of a 21st Century...
, which reunited Hancock with Bill Laswell and featured doses of electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
as well as turntablist Rob Swift
Rob Swift
Rob Swift is an American hip hop DJ and turntablist. Swift is a former member of the turntablist group The X-Ecutioners as of late 2005 and as of 2006; with Mike Patton’s project Peeping Tom.-Early life:...
of The X-Ecutioners
The X-Ecutioners
The X-Ecutioners is a group of hip hop DJs / turntablists from New York.-History:Formed as a DJ crew in the early nineties and originally including 11 members, under the name X-Men, which was chosen partly because of their rivalry between Super DJ Clark Kent's crew of DJs, known as the Supermen,...
. Hancock later toured with the band, and released a live concert DVD with a different lineup which also included the "Rockit" music video. Also in 2001, Hancock partnered with Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
and Roy Hargrove
Roy Hargrove
Roy Anthony Hargrove is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002...
to record a live concert album saluting Davis and John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
called Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall
Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall
Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall is a live recording by Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove and Michael Brecker. It was recorded on October 25, 2001 in Toronto, and was subtitled, Celebrating Miles Davis & John Coltrane...
recorded live in Toronto. The threesome toured t support the album, and have toured on and off through 2005.
2005 saw the release of a duet album called Possibilities
Possibilities
Possibilities is the forty-fifth studio album by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, released in the United States on August 30, 2005 by Vector Recordings. The album features a variety of guest musicians such as John Mayer and Carlos Santana...
. It features duets with Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
, Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
, Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
, John Mayer
John Mayer (musician)
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
, Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
, Sting and others. In 2006, Possibilities
Possibilities
Possibilities is the forty-fifth studio album by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, released in the United States on August 30, 2005 by Vector Recordings. The album features a variety of guest musicians such as John Mayer and Carlos Santana...
was nominated for Grammy awards in two categories: "A Song For You", featuring Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded between 1969 and 2011.*In 1969 it was awarded as Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental*From 1970 to 1971 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance...
, and "Gelo No Montanha", featuring Trey Anastasio
Trey Anastasio
Trey Anastasio is an American guitarist, composer, and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish...
on guitar was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Performance
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Performance was awarded from 1964 to 1967. The award had several minor name changes:*From 1964 to 1965, the award was known as Best Instrumental Performance - Non-Jazz...
. Neither nomination resulted in an award.
Also in 2005, Hancock toured Europe with a new quartet that included Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
ese guitarist Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke is a guitarist born in the west African country of Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. He attended the American School of Modern Music in Paris, France from 1994-1998...
, and explored textures ranging from ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
to straight jazz to African music. Plus, during the Summer of 2005, Hancock re-staffed the famous Head Hunters and went on tour with them, including a performance at The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.
Marcus Miller
Marcus Miller is an American jazz composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Miller is best known as a bassist, working with trumpeter Miles Davis, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonist David Sanborn, as well as maintaining a prolific solo career...
, Terri Lyne Carrington
Terri Lyne Carrington
Terri Lyne Carrington is a jazz drummer, composer, record producer and entrepreneur. She has played with jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Joe Sample, Al Jarreau, Yellowjackets, and many more...
, Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke is a guitarist born in the west African country of Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. He attended the American School of Modern Music in Paris, France from 1994-1998...
and John Mayer
John Mayer (musician)
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
. Hancock also served as the first artist in residence for Bonnaroo that summer.
Also in 2006, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Sony BMG Music Entertainment was a recorded music company, which was a 50–50 joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG...
(which bought out Hancock's old label, Columbia Records) released the two-disc retrospective The Essential Herbie Hancock. This two-disc set is the first compilation of Herbie's work at Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
, Columbia and at Verve
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
/Polygram. This became Hancock's second major compilation of work since the 2002 Columbia-only "The Herbie Hancock Box" which was released at first in a plastic 4x4 cube then re-released in 2004 in a long box set. Hancock also in 2006, recorded a new song with Josh Groban
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...
and Eric Mouquet (co-founder of Deep Forest
Deep Forest
Deep Forest is a musical group consisting of two French musicians, Michel Sanchez and Eric Mouquet. They compose a style of world music, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electronic sounds and dance beats or chillout beats...
) titled "Machine". It is featured on Josh Groban's CD "Awake". Hancock also recorded and improvised with guitarist Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke is a guitarist born in the west African country of Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. He attended the American School of Modern Music in Paris, France from 1994-1998...
on Loueke's debut album Virgin Forest on the ObliqSound label in 2006, resulting in two improvisational tracks "Le Réveil des Agneaux (The Awakening of the Lambs)" and "La Poursuite du lion (The Lion's Pursuit)".
Hancock, a longtime associate and friend of Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
released a 2007 album, River: The Joni Letters
River: The Joni Letters
River: The Joni Letters is the 2007 album by Herbie Hancock. His 47th studio album, it was released on September 25, 2007 by Verve Records. The tribute album is a homage to Joni Mitchell, a longtime associate and friend of Hancock...
, that paid tribute to her work. Norah Jones
Norah Jones
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
and Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
recorded vocals, as did Corinne Bailey Rae
Corinne Bailey Rae
Corinne Bailey Rae is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leeds, who released her debut album Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006....
, and Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
contributed a spoken piece set to Hancock's piano. Mitchell herself also made an appearance. The album was released on September 25, simultaneously with the release of Mitchell's album Shine
Shine (Joni Mitchell album)
Shine is the nineteenth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell and was released on September 25, 2007 by Starbucks' Hear Music...
. "River" was nominated for and won the 2008 Album of the Year Grammy Award, only the second jazz album ever to receive either honor. The album also won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, and the song "Both Sides Now
Both Sides Now (song)
"Both Sides, Now" is a single by Joni Mitchell. Her recording first appeared on the album Clouds, released in 1969. She re-recorded the song in a jazz style for the album of the same name, released in 2000....
" was nominated for Best Instrumental Jazz Solo.
Recently Hancock performed at the Shriner's Children's Hospital Charity Fundraiser with Sheila E, Jim Brickman, Kirk Whalum and Wendy Alane Wright.
His latest work includes assisting the production of the Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
track "RoboCop", found on 808s & Heartbreak
808s & Heartbreak
808s & Heartbreak is the fourth studio album by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released November 24, 2008 on Roc-A-Fella Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii during...
.
On June 14, 2008, Hancock performed at Rhythm on the Vine at the South Coast Winery in Temecula, California for Shriners Hospital for Children. Other performers at the event, that raised $515,000 for Shriners Hospital, were contemporary music artist Jim Brickman
Jim Brickman
Jim Brickman is an American songwriter and pianist. He has been named the most charted male Adult Contemporary artist to date, with six of his albums receiving Gold and Platinum status. He is known for his solo piano compositions, pop-style instrumentals, and vocal collaborations with artists...
, and Sheila E.
Sheila E.
Sheila Escovedo , known by her stage name Sheila E., is an American drummer and percussionist, perhaps best known for her work with Prince, George Duke and Ringo Starr.-Early life and Prince period:...
& the E. Family Band.
On January 18, 2009, Hancock performed at the We Are One concert
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial was a public celebration of the then forthcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States at the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2009. By some estimates the...
, marking the start of inaugural
Inauguration of Barack Obama
The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C., marked the commencement of the four-year term of Barack Obama as President and Joe...
celebrations for American President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. Hancock also performed the Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
at the 2009 Classical BRIT Awards
Classical Brit Awards
The Classic BRIT Awards are an annual awards ceremony held in the United Kingdom covering aspects of classical music, and are the classical equivalent of pop music's BRIT Awards....
with classical pianist Lang Lang
Lang Lang (pianist)
Lang Lang , born June 14, 1982, in Shenyang, Liaoning, China, is a Chinese concert pianist, currently residing in New York, who has performed with leading orchestras in Europe, the United States and his native China. He is increasingly well known around the world for his concert performances,...
. Hancock was named as the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
's creative chair for jazz for 2010–12. In June 2010, Hancock released his newest album, The Imagine Project
The Imagine Project
The Imagine Project is an album by Herbie Hancock released on June 22, 2010. The album, which was recorded in many locations throughout the world and features collaborations from various artists, was complemented by a documentary about the recording process. Hancock's interpretations of these songs...
.
On June 5, 2010, Hancock received an Alumni Award from his alma mater, Grinnell College
Grinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
.
Discography
| Title | Year | Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Takin' Off Takin' Off Takin' Off is the debut album of jazz pianist Herbie Hancock originally released in 1962 for the Blue Note label as BST 84109. The recording session included Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and veteran Dexter Gordon on tenor saxophone. The album was a typical hard bop LP, with its characteristic two... |
1962 | Blue Note Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters... |
||
| My Point of View My Point of View My Point of View is the second album by pianist Herbie Hancock. It was released in 1963 on Blue Note Records as BLP 4126 and BST 84126.-Track listing:All compositions by Herbie Hancock.#"Blind Man, Blind Man" – 8:19#"A Tribute to Someone" – 8:45... |
1963 | Blue Note | ||
| Inventions and Dimensions Inventions and Dimensions Inventions and Dimensions is the third album by Herbie Hancock, recorded on August 30, 1963 for Blue Note Records. The album was also re-released in the mid-1970s as Succotash credited to Hancock and Willie Bobo.-Track listing:... |
1963 | Blue Note | ||
| Empyrean Isles Empyrean Isles Empyrean Isles is the fourth album by American jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, recorded on June 17, 1964 for Blue Note Records. It features the debut of two of his most popular compositions, "One Finger Snap" and "Cantaloupe Island".... |
1964 | Blue Note | ||
| Maiden Voyage | 1965 | Blue Note | ||
| Blow-Up Blow-Up (Soundtrack) Blow-Up is a soundtrack album by Herbie Hancock featuring music composed for Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blow-Up released in 1966 on MGM Records. The album features performances by Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Newman, Phil Woods, Joe Henderson, Jim Hall, Ron Carter, and Jack DeJohnette... (Soundtrack) |
1966 | MGM | ||
| Speak Like a Child Speak Like a Child (album) Speak Like a Child is the sixth album for Blue Note Records by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, recorded and released in 1968. The evocative cover photograph was taken by David Bythewood, an acquaintance of Hancock. The lady on the cover is Hancock's then-girlfriend, Gigi Meixner... |
1968 | Blue Note | ||
| The Prisoner The Prisoner (album) The Prisoner is the seventh album by Herbie Hancock, his final on the Blue Note label, released and recorded in 1969. His next record would be on Warner Bros. Records. Hancock confessed in 1969 that he had been able to get close to his real self with this album than on any other previous ones... |
1969 | Blue Note | ||
| Fat Albert Rotunda Fat Albert Rotunda Fat Albert Rotunda is the eighth album by jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock, released in 1969. It also was the first album that Hancock had on the Warner Bros. Records label, since leaving Blue Note Records.-About the Album:... |
1969 | Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Records Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies... |
||
| Mwandishi Mwandishi Mwandishi is the ninth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released in 1971. It is one of Hancock's first departures from the traditional idioms of jazz as well as the onset of a new, creative and original style which produced an appeal to a wider audience, before his 1973 album, Head Hunters... |
1970 | Warner Bros. | ||
| He Who Lives In Many Places (with bassist Terry Plumeri) | 1971 | Airborne. | ||
| Crossings | 1972 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Sextant Sextant (album) Sextant is the eleventh album by Herbie Hancock, and the last album with his Mwandishi Band.-About the Album:Released in 1973 but recorded in 1972, Sextant was Herbie Hancock's first album on Columbia Records. It was a complex, harmonically and rhythmically challenging musical statement... |
1973 | Columbia Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company... |
||
| Head Hunters | 1973 | Columbia | ||
| Thrust Thrust (album) Thrust is a jazz fusion album by Herbie Hancock, released in 1974 on Columbia Records. It served as a follow-up to Hancock's album, Head Hunters , and achieved similar commercial success, as the album reached as high as number 13 on the Billboard Hot 200 listing... |
1974 | Columbia | ||
| Death Wish Death Wish (soundtrack) Death Wish is a soundtrack album by Herbie Hancock featuring music composed for Dino De Laurentis' film Death Wish released in 1974 on Columbia Records.-Track listing:# "Death Wish " - 6:14# "Joanna's Theme" - 4:46... (Soundtrack) |
1974 | Columbia | ||
| Dedication Dedication (Herbie Hancock album) Dedication is the sixteenth album by Herbie Hancock. It was recorded in Japan in 1974 while Hancock was touring and first released on the Japanese CBS Sony label... |
1974 | Columbia | ||
| Man-Child Man-Child Man-Child is the seventeenth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. The album is arguably one of his most funk influenced albums and it represents his further departure from the "spacey, higher atmosphere jazz," as he referred to it, of his earlier career. Hancock uses more funk based rhythms around... |
1975 | Columbia | ||
| Flood Flood (Herbie Hancock album) Flood is the eighteenth album by Herbie Hancock. It was released only in Japan in 1975. It features the Headhunters Band, performing their hits from the Head Hunters, Thrust and Man-Child albums... (Live album) |
1975 | Columbia | ||
| Secrets | 1976 | Columbia | ||
| VSOP VSOP (album) V.S.O.P. is a 1976 jazz-funk fusion live album by keyboard player Herbie Hancock featuring performances by the V.S.O.P. Quintet , the Mwandishi band with Eddie Henderson on two tracks, and The Headhunters featuring Bennie Maupin and Paul Jackson.Although this album was half-fusion, half-acoustic,... (Live album) |
1976 | Columbia | ||
| Herbie Hancock Trio Herbie Hancock Trio (1977 album) Herbie Hancock Trio is an album by Herbie Hancock released in 1977 in Japan. It features performances by Hancock with Ron Carter and Tony Williams... |
1977 | Columbia | ||
| VSOP: The Quintet VSOP: The Quintet V. S. O. P. The Quintet was recorded from two live performances, one at the Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, on July 16, 1977, the other at the San Diego Civic Theatre, July 18, 1977... (Live album) |
1977 | Columbia | ||
| VSOP: Tempest in the Colosseum (Live album) | 1977 | Columbia | ||
| Sunlight | 1977 | Columbia | ||
| Directstep | 1978 | Columbia | ||
| An Evening with Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea: In Concert An Evening With Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea: In Concert An Evening With Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea: In Concert is a live album recorded over the course of several live performances in February 1978 and released that same year.The album features just Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea each playing acoustic piano... (Live album with Chick Corea Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever... ) |
1978 | Columbia | ||
| The Piano The Piano (Herbie Hancock album) The Piano is the twenty-sixth album by Herbie Hancock.-About the Album:Like with Directstep one year before, this album was recorded in Japan. It was one of Hancock's most successful albums in Japan, perhaps because it was entirely solo piano... |
1979 | Columbia | ||
| Feets, Don't Fail Me Now Feets, Don't Fail Me Now Feets, Don't Fail Me Now is the twenty-seventh album by Herbie Hancock.- Track listing :# "You Bet Your Love" – 7:36# "Trust Me" – 5:41... |
1979 | Columbia | ||
| VSOP: Live Under the Sky VSOP: Live Under the Sky Live Under the Sky is the twenty-eighth album by Herbie Hancock. It was performed live in Japan over two days. The first day, which took place during a furious rainstorm, was broadcast live on national television. The original release featured the first day, while the 2004 re-master/re-release... (Live album) |
1979 | Columbia | ||
| CoreaHancock CoreaHancock CoreaHancock is an acoustic live album by Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. It was recorded over the course of several live performances in February 1978 and released in 1979. Corea has first billing on this album and Hancock was credited for An Evening with Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea: In Concert,... (Live album with Chick Corea Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever... ) |
1979 | Polydor Polydor Records Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone... |
||
| Monster | 1980 | Columbia | ||
| Mr. Hands | 1980 | Columbia | ||
| Herbie Hancock Trio Herbie Hancock Trio Herbie Hancock Trio is the thirty-first album and the second of the same name by Herbie Hancock. .-Track listing:#"Stable Mates" - 11:05... |
1981 | Columbia | ||
| Magic Windows Magic Windows (album) Magic Windows is the thirty-second album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released in 1981.Personnel involved in this album, besides Herbie himself, include among others: Melvin "Wah Wah" Watson, Ray Parker Jr., Sylvester, Paulinho da Costa, Adrian Belew, Sheila Escovedo and Coke Escovedo.-Track... |
1981 | Columbia | ||
| Lite Me Up Lite Me Up (album) Lite Me Up! is the thirty-third album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, in 1982.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Rod Temperton; except where indicated#"Lite Me Up!"#"Bomb"#"Gettin' to the Good Part"... |
1982 | Columbia | ||
| Quartet (Live album) | 1982 | Columbia | ||
| Future Shock | 1983 | Columbia | ||
| Sound-System Sound-System (album) Sound-System is the thirty-sixth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and the second of three albums with the Rockit Band.-About the Album:The second of the three Rockit band albums, Sound-System was another smash for Herbie Hancock.... |
1984 | Columbia | ||
| Village Life Village Life (album) Village Life is an album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and Foday Musa Suso recorded live in the studio in Japan in 1985.-Track listing:# "Moon/Light" - 7:57# "Ndan Ndan Nyaria" - 9:50# "Early Warning" - 2:52... (with Foday Musa Suso Foday Musa Suso Foday Musa Suso is a musician and composer from the West African nation of Gambia. He is a member of the Mandinka ethnic group, and is a jali... ) |
1985 | Columbia | ||
| Round Midnight Round Midnight (Soundtrack) Round Midnight is a soundtrack album by Herbie Hancock featuring music recorded for Bertrand Tavernier's film Round Midnight released in 1986 on Columbia Records... (Soundtrack) |
1986 | Columbia | ||
| Jazz Africa Jazz Africa Jazz Africa is a live album by keyboardist Herbie Hancock and Gambian kora player Foday Musa Suso. The recording took place in Los Angeles, California's Wiltern Theatre as part of the 1986 concert series Jazzvisions... (Live album with Foday Musa Suso Foday Musa Suso Foday Musa Suso is a musician and composer from the West African nation of Gambia. He is a member of the Mandinka ethnic group, and is a jali... ) |
1987 | Polygram | ||
| Perfect Machine Perfect Machine (album) Perfect Machine is the thirty-seventh album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, and the last with the Rockit Band.-About the Album:The last of the three Rockit band albums, Perfect Machine was also Hancock's final album for Columbia Records and is considered the least popular of the three Rockit band... |
1988 | Columbia | ||
| A Tribute to Miles A Tribute to Miles A Tribute to Miles is a tribute album by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Wallace Roney to pay homage to the their recently departed mentor, Miles Davis, who died in September 1991. Playing the part of Davis was young trumpet player Wallace Roney... |
1994 | Qwest Qwest Records Qwest Records is the American record label started by Quincy Jones in 1980 as a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records, and owned byWarner Music Group. although Quincy was still under contract with A&M records through 1981. George Benson's 1980 Give Me the Night LP was the first release on Qwest,... /Warner Bros. |
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| Dis Is Da Drum | 1994 | Verve Verve Records Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve... /Mercury Mercury Records Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal... |
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| The New Standard The New Standard (album) The New Standard is the fortieth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released in 1996 on Verve. It consists of jazz-fusion renditions of classic and contemporaneous rock and R&B songs.-Track listing:... |
1995 | Verve | ||
| 1 + 1 1 + 1 (album) -Personnel:*Herbie Hancock – piano, producer*Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone, producer... (with Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards... ) |
1997 | Verve | ||
| Gershwin's World Gershwin's World Gershwin's World is the forty-second album by Herbie Hancock.This album featured the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. It features several prominent musicians including Joni Mitchell, Chick Corea, Stevie Wonder, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.... |
1998 | Verve | ||
| Future2Future Future2Future Future2Future is the forty-third album by Herbie Hancock. Hancock reunited with bass player Bill Laswell and the two of them tried to recapture the success of the three previous albums.In yet another innovative stylistic move, Herbie reunited with Bill Laswell in the creation of a 21st Century... |
2001 | Transparent | ||
| Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall is a live recording by Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove and Michael Brecker. It was recorded on October 25, 2001 in Toronto, and was subtitled, Celebrating Miles Davis & John Coltrane... (Live album) |
2002 | Verve | ||
| Possibilities Possibilities Possibilities is the forty-fifth studio album by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, released in the United States on August 30, 2005 by Vector Recordings. The album features a variety of guest musicians such as John Mayer and Carlos Santana... |
2005 | Concord/Hear Music | ||
| River: The Joni Letters River: The Joni Letters River: The Joni Letters is the 2007 album by Herbie Hancock. His 47th studio album, it was released on September 25, 2007 by Verve Records. The tribute album is a homage to Joni Mitchell, a longtime associate and friend of Hancock... |
2007 | Verve | ||
| Then and Now: the Definitive Herbie Hancock | 2008 | Verve | ||
| The Imagine Project The Imagine Project The Imagine Project is an album by Herbie Hancock released on June 22, 2010. The album, which was recorded in many locations throughout the world and features collaborations from various artists, was complemented by a documentary about the recording process. Hancock's interpretations of these songs... |
2010 | Hancock |
As a Leader
- 2000: Dejohnette, Hancock, Holland and Metheny – Live in Concert
- 2002: Herbie Hancock Trio: Hurricane! with Ron CarterRon CarterRon Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
and Billy CobhamBilly CobhamWilliam C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s.... - 2002: The Jazz Channel Presents Herbie Hancock (BET on Jazz) with Cyro BaptistaCyro BaptistaCyro Baptista is a Brazilian musician, teacher, and recording artist specializing in percussion in the genres of jazz and world music....
, Terri Lynne Carrington, Ira Coleman, Eli DegibriEli DegibriEli Degibri is an Israeli jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger.-Early life:Degibri first began playing the mandolin at age 7 in an after school music program at the Jaffa Conservatory of Music...
and Eddie HendersonEddie Henderson (musician)Eddie Henderson is an American jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player. Henderson's influences include Booker Little, Clifford Brown, Woody Shaw and Miles Davis.-Family influence and early music history:... - 2004: Herbie Hancock – Future2Future Live
- 2006: Herbie Hancock – Possibilities with John MayerJohn MayerJohn Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
, Christina AguileraChristina AguileraChristina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
, Joss StoneJoss StoneJocelyn Eve Stoker , better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist...
, and more
Academy Awards
- 1986, Original Soundtrack, for Round MidnightRound Midnight (Soundtrack)Round Midnight is a soundtrack album by Herbie Hancock featuring music recorded for Bertrand Tavernier's film Round Midnight released in 1986 on Columbia Records...
Grammy Awards
- 1984, Best R&B Instrumental PerformanceGrammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance was awarded from 1970 to 1990 and in 1993. The award had several minor name changes:*From 1970 to 1985 the award was known as Best R&B Instrumental Performance...
, for RockitRockit"Rockit" is a song recorded by Herbie Hancock. It was released as a single from his 1983 album Future Shock. The song was written by Hancock, bass guitarist Bill Laswell, and synthesizer/drum machine programmer Michael Beinhorn.-History:... - 1985, Best R&B Instrumental Performance, for Sound-SystemSound-System (album)Sound-System is the thirty-sixth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and the second of three albums with the Rockit Band.-About the Album:The second of the three Rockit band albums, Sound-System was another smash for Herbie Hancock....
- 1988, Best Instrumental CompositionGrammy Award for Best Instrumental CompositionThe Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition has been awarded since 1960. The award is presented to the composer of the music.There have been several minor changes to the name of the award:...
, for Call Sheet Blues - 1995, Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual Or GroupGrammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality contemporary jazz performances...
, for A Tribute to MilesA Tribute to MilesA Tribute to Miles is a tribute album by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Wallace Roney to pay homage to the their recently departed mentor, Miles Davis, who died in September 1991. Playing the part of Davis was young trumpet player Wallace Roney... - 1997, Best Instrumental Composition, for Manhattan (Island Of Lights And Love)
- 1999, Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s), for St. Louis Blues
- 1999, Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual Or Group, for Gershwin's WorldGershwin's WorldGershwin's World is the forty-second album by Herbie Hancock.This album featured the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. It features several prominent musicians including Joni Mitchell, Chick Corea, Stevie Wonder, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra....
- 2003, Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group, for Directions in Music: Live at Massey HallDirections in Music: Live at Massey HallDirections in Music: Live at Massey Hall is a live recording by Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove and Michael Brecker. It was recorded on October 25, 2001 in Toronto, and was subtitled, Celebrating Miles Davis & John Coltrane...
- 2003, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, for My Ship
- 2005, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, for Speak Like a Child
- 2008, Album of the YearGrammy Award for Album of the YearThe Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...
, for River: The Joni LettersRiver: The Joni LettersRiver: The Joni Letters is the 2007 album by Herbie Hancock. His 47th studio album, it was released on September 25, 2007 by Verve Records. The tribute album is a homage to Joni Mitchell, a longtime associate and friend of Hancock... - 2008, Best Contemporary Jazz AlbumGrammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality contemporary jazz performances...
, for River: The Joni LettersRiver: The Joni LettersRiver: The Joni Letters is the 2007 album by Herbie Hancock. His 47th studio album, it was released on September 25, 2007 by Verve Records. The tribute album is a homage to Joni Mitchell, a longtime associate and friend of Hancock... - 2011, Best Improvised Jazz Solo, for A Change Is Gonna Come
- 2011, Best Pop Collaboration with VocalsGrammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with VocalsThe Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality pop songs on which singers collaborate...
, for Imagine
Playboy Music Poll
- Best Jazz Group, 1985
- Best Jazz Keyboards, 1985
- Best Jazz Album – Rockit, 1985
- Best Jazz Keyboards, 1986
- Best R&B Instrumentalist, 1987
- Best Jazz Instrumentalist, 1988
Keyboard Magazine's Readers Poll
- Best Jazz & Pop Keyboardist, 1983
- Best Jazz Pianist, 1987
- Best Jazz Keyboardist, 1987
- Best Jazz Pianist, 1988
Other notable awards
- MTV Awards (5 awards in total) – Best Concept Video – RockitRockit"Rockit" is a song recorded by Herbie Hancock. It was released as a single from his 1983 album Future Shock. The song was written by Hancock, bass guitarist Bill Laswell, and synthesizer/drum machine programmer Michael Beinhorn.-History:...
, 1983–84 - Gold Note Jazz Awards – NY Chapter of the National Black MBA Association, 1985
- French Award Officer of the Order of Arts & Letters-Paris, 1985
- BMI Film Music Award "Round Midnight", 1986
- U.S. Radio Award "Best Original Music Scoring – Thom McAnn Shoes", 1986
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association "Best Score – Round Midnight", 1986
- BMI Film Music Award "Colors", 1989
- Miles Davis Award, granted by the Montreal International Jazz Festival, 1997
- Soul Train Music Award "Best Jazz Album – The New Standard", 1997
- Festival International Jazz de Montreal Prix Miles Davis, 1997
- VH1's 100 Greatest Videos "Rockit" is "10th Greatest Video", 2001
- NEA Jazz MastersNEA Jazz MastersThe National Endowment for the Arts , every year honors up to seven jazz musicians with Jazz Master Awards. The National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowships are the highest honors that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians...
Award, 2004 - Downbeat Magazine Readers Poll Hall of Fame, 2005
External links
- Official website of Herbie Hancock
- Official Herbie Hancock MySpace page
- Herbie Hancock at Verve Records
- River:The Joni Letters at Verve Records
- Possibilities Herbie Hancock
- Discography Herbie Hancock Discography
- Interview with Herbie Hancock on music and technology from AppleMatters
- Interview with Herbie Hancock on the "Possibilities" album release from LiveDaily
- Herbie Hancock: Outside The Comfort Zone Herbie Hancock interview from JamBase
- "Herbie Hancock: Essential Recordings" by Ted Gioia (www.jazz.com)
- Herbie Hancock's Grinnell College Alumni Award citation from Grinnell College Alumni Assembly on June 5, 2010.