Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock (b. April 12, 1940) is an American pianist,
bandleaderA 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 DavisMiles 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 sectionA 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-bopPost-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
funkFunk 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
syncopatedIn 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
soulSoul 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
jazzJazz 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 DebussyClaude-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 RavelJoseph-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 IslandCantaloupe 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 SantamaríaRamón "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" 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" 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" 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 albumA 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 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...
won the 2008
Grammy 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...
, only the second jazz album ever to win the award after
Getz/GilbertoGetz/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 BuddhismNichiren 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 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 prodigyA 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
MozartWolfgang 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. 5Piano 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 SymphonyThe 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'sThe 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 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 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 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 RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
and Gil 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 AndersonChris 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 CollegeGrinnell 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 ByrdDonaldson 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 HawkinsColeman 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 UniversityRoosevelt 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 ByrdDonaldson 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 MusicThe 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 GianniniVittorio 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 NelsonOliver Edward Nelson was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer.-Early life and career:...
and
Phil WoodsPhilip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
. He recorded his first solo album
Takin' OffTakin' 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 RecordsBlue 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 SantamaríaRamón "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 DavisMiles 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 sectionA 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 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...
, 17-year-old drummer Tony Williams, and Hancock on piano. After
George ColemanGeorge 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 RiversSamuel 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 ShorterWayne 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 saxophoneThe 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 sectionA 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 changesA 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 labelBlue 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
sidemanA 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 ShorterWayne 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 GreenGrant Green was a jazz guitarist and composer....
,
Bobby HutchersonBobby 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 RiversSamuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
,
Donald ByrdDonaldson 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 DorhamMcKinley 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 MobleyHenry 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 MorganEdward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
and
Freddie HubbardFrederick 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 IslesEmpyrean 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 rapJazz 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
US3Us3 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 " 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 HubbardFrederick 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
cornetThe 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 ColemanGeorge 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-bopPost-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 ViewMy 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 ChildSpeak 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 PrisonerThe 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
flugelhornThe 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 fluteThe 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 DimensionsInventions 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 ChambersPaul 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 BoboWillie 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 AntonioniMichelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
's film
BlowupBlowup 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 pianoAn 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
BrazilBrazil , 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 WayIn 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 JohnsonA 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 CornerOn 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 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. RecordsWarner 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 CosbyWilliam 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 KidsFat 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 RotundaFat 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 JonesQuincy 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 BrewBitches 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 musicElectronic 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
sextetA 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 WilliamsCharles 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 HartWilliam "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 HendersonEddie 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 PriesterJulian 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:...
(
tromboneThe 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
multireedistMultireedist 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 MaupinBennie 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 musicElectronic 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 GleesonPatrick 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 SubotnickMorton 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 IIIMoog 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 2600The 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
SwahiliSwahili 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 RotundaFat 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,
SextantSextant 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
meterThe 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
Future2FutureFuture2Future 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 OdysseyThe 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 2600The 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 SoloistThe 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
MellotronThe 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 synthesizerMoog 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 RotundaFat 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:...
,
MwandishiMwandishi 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 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
funkFunk 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 StoneSly 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 HeadhuntersThe 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 JacksonPaul 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 MasonHarvey 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 FurDifferent 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" 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
jazzJazz 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
funkFunk 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...
,
soulSoul 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-hopHip 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,
ThrustThrust 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
FloodFlood 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 WishDeath 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 ShorterWayne 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-Personnel:*Herbie Hancock – piano, producer*Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone, producer...
.
Hancock's next jazz-funk albums of the 1970s were
Man-ChildMan-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 HubbardFrederick 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
VSOPV.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 QuintetV. 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 CoreaArmando 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
DedicationDedication 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 StepDirectstep 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 SkyLive 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
discoDisco 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 PastoriusJohn 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
vocoderA 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 NowFeets, 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 WindowsMagic 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 UpLite 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 PastoriusJohn 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 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...
in 1981, recording
Herbie Hancock TrioHerbie 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 MarsalisWynton 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 MarsalisBranford 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 MindsSimple 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
mainstreamMainstream 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" 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
scratchingScratching 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 WhitingJim 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 AwardsAn 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 LaswellBill 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-SystemSound-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 MachinePerfect 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 WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
,
Howard JonesHoward 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 DolbyThomas 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-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 AfricaJazz 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 LifeVillage 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
koraThe 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 SusoFoday 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 RoseSo 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 DuranDuran 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
ArcadiaArcadia 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
BBCThe 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,
RockschoolRockschool 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 MidnightRound 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 ScoreThe 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" 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,
SextantSextant 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
ThrustThrust 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-SystemSound-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 MidnightRound 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 MachinePerfect 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-ChildMan-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 WindowsMagic 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
After leaving Columbia, Hancock took a break. Then, with friends
Ron 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...
, Tony Williams,
Wayne ShorterWayne 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 RoneyWallace 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 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...
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 DeJohnetteJack 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 HollandDave 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 MethenyPatrick 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 FestivalThe 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 JazzAcid 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 OrganizationRed 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 StandardThe 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 ScofieldJohn 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 DeJohnetteJack 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 BreckerMichael 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
NirvanaNirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
,
Stevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
,
The BeatlesThe 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...
,
PrincePrince 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 GabrielPeter 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-Personnel:*Herbie Hancock – piano, producer*Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone, producer...
was successful, the song "
Aung San Suu KyiAung 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 AwardA 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 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....
which featured inventive readings of
GeorgeGeorge 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 GershwinIra 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 WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
,
Joni MitchellJoni 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 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....
with a sextet that featured
Cyro 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 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 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
Future2FutureFuture2Future 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
electronicaElectronica 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 SwiftRob 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-EcutionersThe 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 BreckerMichael 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 HargroveRoy 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 ColtraneJohn 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 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...
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
PossibilitiesPossibilities 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 SantanaCarlos 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 SimonPaul 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 LennoxAnnie 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 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 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,
PossibilitiesPossibilities 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 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...
was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental PerformanceThe 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 AnastasioTrey 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 PerformanceThe 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
BeninBenin , 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 LouekeLionel 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
ambientAmbient 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.
However, this lineup did not consist of any of the original Headhunters musicians. The group included
Marcus MillerMarcus 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 CarringtonTerri 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 LouekeLionel 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 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...
. Hancock also served as the first artist in residence for Bonnaroo that summer.
Also in 2006,
Sony BMG Music EntertainmentSony 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. RecordsWarner 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 RecordsBlue 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
VerveVerve 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 GrobanJoshua 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 ForestDeep 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 LouekeLionel 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 MitchellJoni 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 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...
, that paid tribute to her work.
Norah JonesNorah 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 TurnerTina 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 RaeCorinne Bailey Rae is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leeds, who released her debut album Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006....
, and
Leonard CohenLeonard 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
ShineShine 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" 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 WestKanye 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 & Heartbreak808s & 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 BrickmanJim 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 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 concertWe 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
inauguralThe 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 PresidentThe 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 ObamaBarack 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 BlueRhapsody 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 AwardsThe 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 LangLang 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 PhilharmonicThe 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 ProjectThe 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 CollegeGrinnell 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 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 NoteBlue 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 |
|
ColumbiaColumbia 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 CoreaArmando 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 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 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 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) |
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1979 |
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Columbia |
| 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 CoreaArmando 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...
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1979 |
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Polydor 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...
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| Monster |
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1980 |
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Columbia |
| Mr. Hands |
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1980 |
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Columbia |
| 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...
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1981 |
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Columbia |
| Magic Windows 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...
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1981 |
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Columbia |
| Lite Me Up 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"...
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1982 |
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Columbia |
| Quartet (Live album) |
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1982 |
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Columbia |
| Future Shock |
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1983 |
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Columbia |
| Sound-System 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....
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1984 |
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Columbia |
| Village Life 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 SusoFoday 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...
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1985 |
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Columbia |
| Round Midnight 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) |
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1986 |
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Columbia |
| 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 SusoFoday 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...
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1987 |
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Polygram |
| Perfect Machine 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...
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1988 |
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Columbia |
| 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...
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1994 |
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Qwest 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. |
| Dis Is Da Drum |
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1994 |
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VerveVerve 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...
/MercuryMercury 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 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:...
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1995 |
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Verve |
| 1 + 1 -Personnel:*Herbie Hancock – piano, producer*Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone, producer...
(with Wayne ShorterWayne 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...
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1997 |
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Verve |
| 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....
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1998 |
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Verve |
| 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...
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2001 |
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Transparent |
| 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) |
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2002 |
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Verve |
| 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...
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2005 |
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Concord/Hear Music |
| 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...
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2007 |
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Verve |
| Then and Now: the Definitive Herbie Hancock |
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2008 |
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Verve |
| 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...
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2010 |
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Hancock |
As a Leader
- 2000: Dejohnette, Hancock, Holland and Metheny – Live in Concert
- 2002: Herbie Hancock Trio: Hurricane! with 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...
and Billy 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 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 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 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 Mayer
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 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 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 Midnight
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 Performance
The 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 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:...
- 1985, Best R&B Instrumental Performance, for Sound-System
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 Composition
The 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 Group
The 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 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 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....
- 2003, Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group, for 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...
- 2003, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, for My Ship
- 2005, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, for Speak Like a Child
- 2008, 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...
, for River: 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 Album
The 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 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 Vocals
The 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 – 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:...
, 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 Masters
The 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