Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is a jazz pianist and composer from Chicago, Illinois, USA. Hancock is one of jazz music's most important and influential pianists and composers. He embraced elements of rock, funk, and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz.

1990s and later

After leaving Columbia, Hancock took somewhat of a break. Three years after Perfect Machine was released, his mentor Miles Davis, died in 1991. Along with friends Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter and also Davis admirer Wallace Roney they recorded A Tribute To Miles which was released in 1994. The album contained two live recordings and studio recording classics with Roney playing Davis' part as trumpet player. The album did win a Grammy for best group album.

Related Topics:
Perfect Machine - Miles Davis - 1991 - Ron Carter - Tony Williams - Wayne Shorter - Wallace Roney - A Tribute To Miles - 1994

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Hancock's next album, Dis Is Da Drum released in 1993 saw him return to hip hop. 1995's The New Standard found him and an all-star band including John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette and Michael Brecker interpreting pop songs by Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Prince, Peter Gabriel and others. A 1997 duet album with Wayne Shorter titled 1 & 1 was successful, the song "Aung San Suu Kyi" winning the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition, and Hancock also achieved great success in 1998 with his album Gershwin's World which featured inventive readings of George & Ira Gershwin standards by Hancock and a plethora of guest stars including Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell and Shorter.

Related Topics:
Dis Is Da Drum - 1993 - Hip hop - The New Standard - John Scofield - Jack DeJohnette - Michael Brecker - Pop songs - Nirvana - Stevie Wonder - The Beatles - Prince - Peter Gabriel - 1997 - 1 & 1 - Grammy Award - 1998 - Gershwin's World - George - Ira - Joni Mitchell

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In 2001, Hancock recorded Future2Future, which reunited Hancock with Bill Laswell and featured doses of electronica as well as turntablist Rob Swift of The X-Ecutioners. Hancock later toured with the band, and released a live concert DVD which included the "Rockit" music video. In 2002, Hancock partnered with Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove to record a live concert album saluting Davis and John Coltrane called ' recorded live in Toronto. The threesome then toured together.

Related Topics:
2001 - Future2Future - Electronica - Turntablist - The X-Ecutioners - 2002 - Michael Brecker - Roy Hargrove - John Coltrane

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It was announced in early 2005, that Hancock would partner with Starbucks' Hear Music to release a duet album called Possibilities, slated for release on August 30. It features duets with legendary artists Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Christina Aguilera, and also Sting.

Related Topics:
2005 - Starbucks - Possibilities - Carlos Santana - Paul Simon - Annie Lennox - Christina Aguilera - Sting

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Also in 2005, Hancock toured Europe with a new quartet that included Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke, and explored textures ranging from ambient 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.

Related Topics:
2005 - Beninese - Guitarist - Lionel Loueke - Ambient - African music

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