Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer.

Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group.

He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound.

Considered a child prodigy, he played the first movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 26 in D Major, K. 537 (Coronation) at a young people's concert on February 5, 1952, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (led by CSO assistant conductor George Schick) at age 11.

Throughout his teens, Hancock never had a jazz teacher; however, he developed his ear and sense of harmony by listening to the records of jazz pianists such as George Shearing, Erroll Garner, Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson.

He was also influenced by records of the vocal group the Hi-Lo's.

In his words:

"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 Fischer's arrangements for the Hi-Lo's. Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept ... he and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it came from."

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 graduated from Grinnell College in 1960 with degrees in electrical engineering and music.

Hancock then moved to Chicago, and began working with Donald Byrd and Coleman Hawkins.

During this time he also took courses at Roosevelt University.

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.

Hancock received considerable attention when, in May 1963, he joined Davis's Second Great Quintet.

Davis personally sought out Hancock, whom he saw as one of the most promising talents in jazz.

The rhythm section Davis organized was young but effective, comprising bassist Ron Carter, 17-year-old drummer Williams, and Hancock on piano.

After George Coleman and Sam Rivers each took a turn at the saxophone spot, the quintet gelled with Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone.

This quintet is often regarded as one of the finest jazz ensembles yet.

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, Williams, Grant Green, Bobby Hutcherson, Rivers, Byrd, Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Eric Dolphy.

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), albums which featured flugelhorn, alto flute and bass trombone in addition to the traditional jazz instrumentation.

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 (1966), the first of many film soundtracks he recorded in his career.

In the 1970s, Hancock experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles, using a wide array of synthesizers and electronics.

It was during this period that he released perhaps his best-known and most influential album, Head Hunters.

Hancock's best-known compositions include "Cantaloupe Island", "Watermelon Man", "Maiden Voyage", and "Chameleon", all of which are jazz standards.

Grinnell also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1972.

During the 1980s, he enjoyed a hit single with the electronic instrumental "Rockit", a collaboration with bassist/producer Bill Laswell.

Hancock has won an Academy Award and 14 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for his 2007 Joni Mitchell tribute album River: The Joni Letters, becoming only the second jazz album to win the award after Getz/Gilberto in 1965.

Since 2012, Hancock has served as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he teaches at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

He is also the chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz (known as the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz until 2019).

Hancock was born in Chicago, the son of Winnie Belle (née Griffin), a secretary, and Wayman Edward Hancock, a government meat inspector.

His parents named him after the singer and actor Herb Jeffries.

He attended Hyde Park High School.

Like many jazz pianists, Hancock started with a classical education.

He started playing piano when he was seven years old, and his talent was recognized early.