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.

Back to the Basics and The Future Shock

During late 1970s and early 1980s, Hancock toured with his "V.S.O.P." quintet that featured a rotating lineup that usually featured all the members of the 60's Miles Davis quintet except Miles (there was constant speculation that one day, Miles would join the group and reunite the classic band, but he ultimately never did). He recorded a duet acoustic piano album with Chick Corea in 1979 (who had replaced him in the Miles Davis band a decade earlier) and a solo acoustic piano album titled The Piano which was like so many Hancock albums at the time only released in Japan (though it was finally released in the USA in 2004). Several Japan-only releases have yet still not been released in America, such as Dedication and Sunlight.

Related Topics:
Chick Corea - 1979 - Japan - 2004 - Dedication - Sunlight

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Hancock recorded many albums consisting of disco and pop music. They were not especially successful though Hancock's experiments usually provided interest for the listener (for example the Feets, Don't Fail Me Now album, released in 1978, features extended use of vocoder vocals by Hancock, plus disco grooves combined with funk-riffs). Albums such as Mr. Hands, Magic Windows, and Lite Me Up were some of Hancock's most criticized and unwelcome albums, as many fans did not want disco-esque jazz albums (partly due to the market at the time being somewhat saturated with such pop-jazz hybrids from the likes of Freddie Hubbard). The fans wanted something different, which led Hancock towards his biggest hit to date.

Related Topics:
Disco - Pop music - Feets, Don't Fail Me Now - 1978 - Mr. Hands - Magic Windows - Lite Me Up

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In 1983, Hancock had a mainstream hit with the Grammy-award winning instrumental single "Rockit" from the album Future Shock–perhaps the first mainstream single to feature scratching–which also featured an innovative animated music video with a breakdancing robot. The video was a hit on MTV, but became somewhat notorious when it was revealed that Hancock's minimal presence in the video was due to MTV's unwillingness at the time to show black musicians. This single ushered in a collaboration with noted bassist and producer Bill Laswell where Hancock experimented with electronic music on a string of three LPs produced by Laswell, Future Shock (1983), Sound-System (1984) and Perfect Machine (1988). During this period, he appeared onstage at the Grammy awards with Stevie Wonder, Howard Jones, and Thomas Dolby, in a famous synthesizer jam. Another lesser known work from the eighties is the live album Jazz Africa which was recorded with Gambian kora player Foday Musa Suso.

Related Topics:
1983 - Mainstream - Grammy - Rockit - Future Shock - Scratching - Music video - Breakdancing - MTV - Bill Laswell - Sound-System - Perfect Machine - Grammy awards - Stevie Wonder - Howard Jones - Thomas Dolby - Jam - Jazz Africa - Gambian - Kora - Foday Musa Suso

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In 1986 Hancock played and acted in the film 'Round Midnight. He also wrote the score/soundtrack, for which he won an Academy Award for Original Music Score. Often he would write music for TV commercials. "Maiden Voyage", in fact, started out as a cologne advertisement. But, at the end of the Perfect Machine tour, Hancock decided to leave Columbia Records after a 15 plus year relationship.

Related Topics:
1986 - 'Round Midnight - Academy Award for Original Music Score

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As of June 2005, almost half of his recordings with Columbia have been remastered. The first three U.S. releases, Sextant, Head Hunters and Thrust as well as the last four releases Future Shock, Sound-System, the soundtrack to 'Round Midnight and Perfect Machine. Sporadically, Hancock did release a couple of his Japan-only releases. But everything released in America from Man-Child to Quartet has yet to be remastered. Some albums, made and initially released in America, were remastered between 1999 and 2001 were sold in other countries such as Magic Windows and Monster.

Related Topics:
June - 2005 - Sextant - Head Hunters - Thrust - Future Shock - Sound-System - 'Round Midnight - Perfect Machine - Japan - Man-Child - Quartet - 1999 - 2001 - Magic Windows - Monster

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