Herbie Hancock Biography
One of the most talented and versatile keyboardists of his generation, Herbie Hancock has covered a staggering amount of musical territory in his five-decade career. Never afraid to incorporate elements of rock, soul, funk and world music into his work, he played a key role in the birth of jazz fusion during his seminal stint with Miles Davis, and subsequently achieved a massive mainstream success that made him a ubiquitous presence on MTV. Through all of his varied musical endeavors, Hancock’s complex yet accessible playing has remained constant, and he continues to be one of jazz’s most beloved and influential figures.
A childhood classical-music prodigy, the Chicago-born Hancock began studying piano at age seven, and performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony at the age of 11. Although he received extensive classical training, Hancock became a jazz musician on his own initiative, after hearing recordings by Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and McCoy Tyner.
In 1961, the 21-year-old Hancock moved to New York to join trumpeter Donald Byrd’s group. The following year, he released his first solo LP Takin’ Off, which caught the attention of Miles Davis, who invited Hancock to join his new quintet. During his five years with Davis’ “second great quintet”—a period that yielded such albums as Seven Steps to Heaven, Miles Smiles, Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky and Live at the Plugged Nickel—Hancock found his voice as a pianist, and emerged as one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. During the same period, he also played on sessions for the likes of George Benson, Stan Getz, Benny Goodman, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter. He also composed the highly influential score for Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Blow Up, the first in a long series of Hancock soundtrack assignments, which would later win him an Academy Award to go along with his twelve Grammys.
As jazz turned towards harder electric sounds in the late ’60s, Hancock’s early background in engineering and his interest in electronic keyboards helped to make him a leading light in exploring the jazz possibilities of electric piano, clavinet, synthesizers and computer technology. He left Davis’ band in 1968, although he would continue to guest on such Miles albums as In A Silent Way, A Tribute to Jack Johnson and On the Corner. He then formed the jazz-rock group that played on the seminal 1973 Hancock release Head Hunters, which won attention from rock fans and became the biggest-selling jazz album up to that time. Hancock continued to make electric innovations on such subsequent albums as Thrust, Man-Child and Secrets. But he never abandoned his original love, the grand piano, and returned to his acoustic roots in the late ’70s and early ’80s with the all-star ensemble V.S.O.P., which reunited him with his former Miles Davis bandmates Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams, along with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet.
Hancock would continue to alternate between straightforward acoustic recordings and more commercial projects, culminating in 1983’s Future Shock, the first of three urban-flavored albums produced by Bill Laswell. Future Shock spawned a surprise smash single in the hip-hop-flavored industrial dance-pop number “Rockit,” which achieved the unlikely feat of turning the veteran jazz keyboardist into an MTV star. In the years since, Hancock has continued to pursue an eclectic musical path, exploring African and electronic music as well as acoustic sounds, approaching his varied pursuits with the same curiosity and adventurousness that he’s maintained since his earliest recordings.
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