by Andrew Baker
Herbie Hancock was born on April 12th, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois. He started playing classical piano at age 7, and by age 11, he was playing Mozart with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Hancock never had a jazz teacher, but he studied the recordings of Miles Davis, John Coltrane & Lee Morgan.
When Hancock started at Grinnell College in Iowa, he was studied engineering, but after two years switched to music. He left Grinnell one course short of graduating in order to move back to Chicago to play music.
Hancock’s first album, Takin’ Off, was released by Blue Note Records in 1962, and the album caught the attention of Miles Davis, who at the time was assembling a new band. In 1963, Hancock joined what was to become known as the “second great quintet,” which consisted of Davis on trumpet, Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Tony Williams on drums, and Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone. Miles Davis thought of Hancock as one of the most promising talents in jazz music.
Even during the time Hancock recorded with Miles Davis, he was releasing albums of his own through Blue Note. Hancock left the Davis Quintet in 1968 to form his own sextet (a group consisting of 6 members). Hancock continued to play on albums by Davis into the 1970s, including an album called A Tribute to Jack Johnson. Jack Johnson was the first black heavyweight (boxing) Champion of the World between 1908 and 1915.
In 1969, Hancock left Blue Note Records to join Warner Brothers Records. Soon after joining Warner Brothers, he worked with Bill Cosby to compose the soundtrack for the Bill Cosby TV show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
It was around this time that Hancock first began to step out of traditional jazz, and soon followed with the funk album called Head Hunters. This album continues to be very influential to Jazz musicians, Soul-Music musician, and Hip-Hop musicians. Head Hunters was the first jazz album to go platinum, which happens when an album sells a million copies.
In 1983, Hancock had a mainstream hit with his Grammy-award winning song “Rockit” which was on the album Future Shock. This was the first mainstream song that featured turn-table ‘scratching” which is still popular today with bands like David Crowder. The video for “Rockit” won 5 categories in the very first MTV Music Awards.
In 1994, Hancock released A Tribute to Miles with friends and former band mates Ron Carter, Tony Williams & Wayne Shorter. This album won a Grammy-award for Best Group Album. A 1997 duet album with Wayne Shorter included the song “Aung San Suu Kyi” which won a Grammy-award for Best Instrumental Composition.
In 2006, Hancock released a Grammy-nominated album called Possibilities. It featured duets with Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Sting, and others. “Gelo No Montanha” from that album featured Trey Anastasio (from the band Phish) on guitar, and was nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
Grammy Awards by Herbie Hancock
- 1983 – Best R&B Instrumental Performance
- 1984 – Best R&B Instrumental Performance
- 1987 – Best Instrumental Composition
- 1994 – Best Jazz Instrumental Performance
- 1996 – Best Instrumental Composition
- 1998 – Best Instrumental Arrangement
- 1998 – Best Jazz Instrumental Performance
- 2002 – Best Jazz Instrumental Album
- 2004 – Best Jazz Instrumental Solo
- 2008 – Best Contemporary Jazz Album
- 2008 – Album of the Year