Hancock, Herbie, 1940-....

Variant names

Hide Profile

Pianist and composer Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock was born on April 12, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois to Winnie Belle and Wayman Edward Hancock. Hancock began to study music at age seven, and performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by age eleven. He played jazz in high school and double-majored in music and electrical engineering at Grinnell College.

In 1960, Hancock was discovered by trumpeter Donald Byrd. After two years of session work with Byrd, as well as Phil Woods and Oliver Nelson, he signed with Blue Note Records as a solo artist. Hancock's 1963 debut album,Takin' Off, was an immediate success, and produced the hit "Watermelon Man." Subsequent albums on Blue Note includedMaiden Voyage,Empyrean Isles, andSpeak Like a Child, among others. In 1963, trumpeter Miles Davis invited Hancock to join the Miles Davis Quintet alongside Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, where he stayed for five years. Hancock also composed the score to Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 filmBlow Up, which led to a successful career in feature film and television music.

After leaving the Davis Quintet, Hancock established his own sextet and recorded several albums, including 1971'sMwandishi. He then formed a new band called The Headhunters and, in 1973, recordedHead Huntersfor Columbia Records, which became the first jazz album to go platinum. Hancock produced eleven albums that were included in the pop charts during the 1970s. He also recorded and performed with the group V.S.O.P. in the late 1970s, toured with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis in 1980, and then collaborated with producer Bill Laswell in the mid-1980s. Hancock later moved to the Verve record label and formed a band to record 1996'sThe New Standard. He then released1+1with Wayne Shorter in 1997. Hancock reunited with The Headhunters in 1998 and, that same year, collaborated with a number of artists on his multiple Grammy Award-winning albumGershwin's World. His albums in the 2000s includedFuture2Future,Directions In Music: Live at Massey Hall,Possibilities,The Imagine Project, andRiver: The Joni Letters, which won him the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2008. Hancock has been named by the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Creative Chair For Jazz. He also serves as Institute Chairman of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and as the 2014 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University. In addition, he is a founder of The International Committee of Artists for Peace, and was designated an honorary UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 2011.

In all, Hancock has released over forty albums and received fourteen Grammy Awards. He also received an Oscar Award for composing the score to 1986'sRound Midnight. His other honors include a Soul Train Music Award, a U.S. Radio Award, and multiple BMI Film Music Awards and MTV Video Awards. He was also awarded the "Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres" by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

Herbie Hancock was interviewed byThe HistoryMakerson November 13, 2014.

From The HistoryMakers™ biography: https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/A2014.260

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Dunia [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Dunia [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf NCSA Jazz Ensemble. NCSA Jazz Ensemble [sound recording]. University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Semans Library
creatorOf NCSA Jazz Ensemble. Jazz Ensemble [sound recording]. University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Semans Library
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Kamili [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
referencedIn Hagedorn, Jessica Tarahata, 1949-. Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn photograph collection [graphic]. UC Berkeley Libraries
creatorOf Gleeson, Brian. Koi and the kola nuts [Multimédia multisupport]. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
referencedIn Duke Ellington recordings collection Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, Harvard College Library
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Rock it / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Kawaida [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Maulana [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Maulana [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Rock it [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf NCSA Jazz Ensemble. NCSA Jazz Ensemble [sound recording]. University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Semans Library
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Baraka [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf Gleeson, Brian. Koi and the kola nuts [Multimédia multisupport]. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Kamili [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Kawaida [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
referencedIn Gelman, Anita. Anita Gelman Collection, 1970s-1980s. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives
creatorOf NCSA Jazz Ensemble. Jazz Ensemble [sound recording] University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Semans Library
creatorOf Thielemans, Toots, 1922-.... Jazz très cool ! / Toots Thielemans, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson... [et al.], comp. ; H. Hancock p, R. Rodgers saxo, E. Garner p... [et al.]. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
referencedIn Warner Bros. production slides [graphic], 1979-1991 The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-. Lead sheets : unpublished copyright deposits, 1972-1977 / Herbie Hancock. Library of Congress
creatorOf Thielemans, Toots, 1922-.... Jazz très cool ! / Toots Thielemans, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson... [et al.], comp. ; H. Hancock p, R. Rodgers saxo, E. Garner p... [et al.]. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
creatorOf Hancock, Herbie, 1940-.... Baraka [Multimédia multisupport] / Herbie Hancock, p. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf The HistoryMakers Video Oral History with Herbie Hancock The HistoryMakers
Relation Name
associatedWith Dodge, Joseph Jeffers person
associatedWith Gelman, Anita. person
associatedWith Gleeson, Brian. person
associatedWith Hagedorn, Jessica Tarahata, 1949- person
associatedWith NCSA Jazz Ensemble. corporateBody
associatedWith NCSA Jazz Ensemble. corporateBody
associatedWith NCSA Jazz Ensemble. corporateBody
associatedWith NCSA Jazz Ensemble. corporateBody
associatedWith Thielemans, Toots, 1922-.... person
associatedWith Warner Bros corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Los Angeles (Calif.)
Los Angeles (Calif.)
Chicago (Ill.)
Subject
Jazz
Music
Occupation
Composers
Music Composer
Pianist
Activity

Person

Birth 1940-04-12

Birth 19400412

Americans

Information

Permalink: http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rf5z7r

Ark ID: w6rf5z7r

SNAC ID: 63371169