1940
Herbie Hancock is born in Chicago, and begins having piano lessons
at the age of seven. He shows great promise and when eleven he
plays Mozart with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He attends college
and graduates in electrical engineering and then music.
1963-68
Hancock joins the Miles Davis quintet,
with Ron Carter on bass, Tony Williams on drums and, later, saxophonist
Wayne Shorter. Hancock establishes
himself as a fine composer of small band repertoire and, alongside
Carter and Williams, he changes the conception
of the jazz rhythm section working behind a soloist,
as Herbie responds to the challenges Davis asks of his 1960s group:
there is much more interaction and freedom
between each member of the group, harmonically and rhythmically.
Hancock is one of the most innovative and
original jazz pianists of the post-Second World War era,
not content to play with traditional post-bebop
mannerisms.
1970s-80s
Hancock returns occasionally to the traditional jazz fold, and in
1976-77 tours with VSOP (Very Special One-time-only
Performance) - which despite its name becomes an institution
with Shorter and Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), duets with Chick Corea,
and tours with various 'super groups', as in 1982 with Tony Williams,
Ron Carter and Wynton Marsalis. In 1987 he wins an Oscar for his
soundtrack to the Tavernier film Round Midnight, loosely
based on Bud Powell's life, starring
Dexter Gordon.
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1961-63
He travels to New York with a band led by Donald Byrd, and works with
Phil Woods and Oliver Nelson. He is noticed straight away and records
as a leader: his first album for the Blue
Note label produces a hit single, Watermelon Man. In 1962
and 1963 Herbie works with Eric Dolphy.
He continues to record with his own group throughout the 1960s, even
when with Miles Davis, and writes a portfolio
of modern jazz classics: Cantaloupe Island, Maiden Voyage
and Speak Like A Child, among others.
1968-73
Herbie still records occasionally with Davis, but forms his own full-time
sextet with Eddie Henderson (trumpet) and Benny Maupin (reeds). There
is a much experimentation with electronic
equipment, at first only for atmosphere, but soon as an
integral part of the repertoire. There is not enough steady work for
the group, which Hancock disbands in 1973.
1973-1980s
Hancock forms a quartet with Maupin which is more radically populist
in approach, employing the funk and disco rhythms and popular electronic
sounds of the pop world. Head Hunters, the first album, is
a commercial success with a hit single, Chameleon. Hancock's
music is now much more pop-orientated with heavy use of synthesizers
and repetitive funk rhythms. He gains a worldwide following
and tours to great acclaim. Further hits ensue, with much
chart activity in the early-1980s, including Rockit,
a collaboration with the group Material, from the album Future
Shock. |