Herbie Hancock, Born: 1940, Pianist/Composer

Herbie Hancock's official website: ~www.herbiehancock.com

Biography: Herbie Hancock (~www.herbiehancock.com)

Herbie Hancock: An Introduction

Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modern music. Throughout his explorations, he has transcended limitations and genres while maintaining his unmistakable voice. With an illustrious career spanning five decades and 12 Grammy® Awards including the 2007 Album Of The Year for ‘River: The Joni Letters’, he continues to amaze audiences.

There are few artists in the music industry who have had more influence on acoustic and electronic jazz and R&B than Herbie Hancock. As the immortal Miles Davis said in his autobiography, "Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven't heard anybody yet who has come after him."

Interview: Herbie Hancock / Andre Mayer (~CBC.ca)

An interview with jazz legend Herbie Hancock
By Andre Mayer
June 18, 2007

Herbie Hancock’s business card may read “musician,” but he’s also a career diplomat. His strongest allegiance is to jazz, but he’s done more than any other jazz player — arguably any other musician — to forge links between jazz, pop, electronic and world music.

Hancock issued his first album, Takin’ Off, in 1962, but it was while in the employ of Miles Davis in the mid-’60s that the pianist truly flourished, gaining recognition for his bold yet cerebral playing. Hancock would eventually embrace jazz-fusion with as much gusto as Miles himself. Hancock formed the funk-inflected band Headhunters in 1973; the group’s self-titled debut remains one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time.

Since then, Hancock has continued to be a restless innovator, offsetting every jazz recording with a foray into pop. His most famous pop statement was the 1983 electro classic Future Shock (which yielded the twitchy single Rockit); more recently, he recorded an album of rock covers in a jazz style (1996’s New Standard) and collaborated with contemporary singers like John Mayer, Christina Aguilera and Sting (2005’s Possibilities).

In May, the Toronto Jazz Festival announced that Hancock, 67, would replace the ailing Oscar Peterson in its GRANDMASTERS series, a run of shows taking place in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. On the phone from his Los Angeles home, Hancock spoke to CBC Arts Online about the influence of Oscar Peterson, when he first discovered his own musical voice and a new collaboration with his good friend Joni Mitchell.

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