Herbie Hancock

In 2008, Herbie Hancock was awarded a Grammy for the Best Album of 2007, the top award in music. It was a remarkable achievement for a jazz musician, equalled only once before - by Stan Getz in 1964. Since joining the Miles Davis Quintet in 1963, Herbie’s career has gone from strength to strength. Unfettered by the need to play in one musical genre, his music has ranged across the whole spectrum of musical styles from pure jazz, through classical forms to disco music, and he is one of the few jazz musicians to achieve success in the pop music charts. Herbie is as much at home on a fine acoustic grand piano as he is when he plays electronic keyboards and synthesisers, on which he has been a major innovator. With his band, the Head Hunters, he led the popularisation of jazz-fusion music and in the early 1980s helped to create hip-hop music. This book describes Herbie Hancock’s career through an examination of his recorded works. It includes a substantial discography and index.