Herbie Hancock
If not for the amazing reign of Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock might qualify as jazz's most well-known, popular performer since the '60s. Hancock had 11 albums chart during the '70s and 17 between 1973 and 1984, including three in 1974, figures that puts him well ahead of any other jazz musician in the '70s and beyond. He's also among jazz's finest eclectics, having played everything from bebop to free, jazz-rock, fusion, funk, instrumental pop, dance, hip-hop and world fusion. Hancock's style, greatly influenced by Bill Evans, mixes introspective and energetic elements, and fuses blues and gospel influences with bebop and classical elements. He's both a great accompanist and excellent soloist, whose vocals, phrasing, melodic and interpretative skills and harmonic sounds were impressive early in his career, and remain sharp no matter what style or idiom he's working with. Herbie Hancock, born in 1940, began playing piano at his home in Chicago when he was seven years old. He gave his first public performance two years later, when he performed Mozart's D Major Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony when he was 11, and in high school he picked up an ear for jazz. He formed his own jazz ensemble while attending Hyde Park H
In 1983, Hancock released Future Shock, which was both a pioneer electronic piece, but also a hit on both R&B and dance charts. His original compositions, melded ideas of funk and rock with jazz. After he graduated from Grinnell College in Iowa, he moved to New York City and at age 20, hooked up with trumpeter Donald Byrd. He was influenced harmonically by the arrangements of Clare Fischer, who provided for The Hi-Los and Robert Farnon's orchestrations of pop songs. Hancock comped in a brisk manner and used a gentle, even touch. In these new contexts, there were long passages in which chords did not change, yet the amount of activity Hancock generated made up for the absence of "functional" chord changes. With this group Hancock began to pioneer what would later be called fusion. The following year he reunited with his old Headhunter band mates, to record an album, Return of the Headhunters, and hit the road for a series of summer concerts. He based a lot of improvisations on modes instead of chord changes, using chords more for their sound quality than for their capacity to increase and decrease tension when they change. Hancock released Dis is Da Drum in 1994, which reverberates with West African rhythms In 1997 Hancock released 1+1, a duet session with saxophonist Wayne Shorter. The album, which became the largest-selling jazz album in history, contained "Chameleon," another of Hancock's crossover hits. Hancock has displayed far-reaching inventiveness, setting standards for the pop industry.
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