Biography of Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock is a jazz keyboardist who has succeeded in a variety of styles, from the free-jazz of the '60s, when he played with Miles Davis and made a variety of groundbreaking albums for Blue Note, to the fusion of the '70s and beyond, which have seen him invading the pop charts regularly.Hancock moved from Chicago to New York in 1961 and worked with a variety of jazz stars before joining Davis's quintet in 1965, a unit that also included Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter and is now remembered as among the best bands Davis ever led. In addition to the memorable music turned out by this group (some of it written by Hancock), the pianist also contracted to Blue Note for a series of solo albums, starting with Takin' Off in 1962. In 1966 Hancock scored the film Blowup, which made the pop charts.Leaving Davis in 1968, Hancock eventually began to divide his time between acoustic-piano work and electric playing, the result being that he became a major star in both genres. His "straight" jazz dates included the V.S.O.P. group (which was the old Davis quintet with Freddie Hubbard substituting for Davis) and albums with fellow keyboardist Chick Corea. His fusion albums included the gold-selling 1974 release Head Hunters. In all, he charted 11 albums during the '70s, amazing for a jazz musician.Of course, there are few who like all of his work. This became even more true when Hancock scored on the dance floor and the singles chart with "Rockit," a hip-hop track with a successful video that went gold in 1983. Since then, Hancock has continued to move back and forth between the worlds of purist-jazz and outright pop. ~ William Ruhlmann