Herbie Hancock

Out of 41 studio LPs, 12 live sets, 62 compilations and five OSTs: the essence of controlled freedom.

By Andrew Male.

THE THEME of Herbie Hancock’s solo career is one of constant reinvention. The super-smart Chicago-born son of a lower middle-class family, raised in a multi-cultural neighbourhood, Hancock studied classical piano from the age of seven, with harmonic ideas influenced by vocal quartet The Hi-Lo’s and arranger Gil Evans. After graduating from Grinnell College, Iowa in 1960, aged 20, with degrees in electrical engineering and music, he effectively combined both disciplines, approaching his piano playing with an analytical curiosity, rearranging and dissecting standard elements to produce different results. After moving to New York with jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd and releasing his first solo album, 1962’s Takin’ Off, featuring the eternal funk groove of Watermelon Man, he caught the attention of everyone from Freddie Hubbard and Roland Kirk to Eric Dolphy and…

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MOJO (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 2021

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