Name
Herbie Hancock
Known For
Sound
Birthday
1940-04-12 (86 years old)
Place of Birth
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Biography
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet", Hancock helped redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section, and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound. He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers and funk. Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success among pop audiences. His music embraces elements of funk and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz. In his jazz improvisation, he possesses a unique creative blend of jazz, blues, and modern classical music, with harmonic stylings much like the styles of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Hancock's best-known solo works include "Cantaloupe Island", "Watermelon Man" (later performed by dozens of musicians, including bandleader Mongo Santamaría), "Maiden Voyage", "Chameleon", and the singles "I Thought It Was You" and "Rockit". His 2007 tribute album River: The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, only the second jazz album ever to win the award after Getz/Gilberto in 1965.
As a member of Soka Gakkai, Hancock is an adherent of the Nichiren school of Mahayana Buddhism.
Known For
6.4
John Gage offers a down-on-his-luck yuppie husband $1 million for the opportunity to spend...
6.656
In the 28th century, Valerian and Laureline are special operatives charged with keeping or...
6.931
After his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a...
6.072
'Sugar' Ray is the owner of an illegal casino and must contend with the pressure of viciou...
6.8
In a rural town in Louisiana, a black Master Sergeant is found shot to death just outside ...
5.5
Vengeance drives a tough Detroit cop to stay on the trail of a power hungry auto magnate w...
- 2011 The Girls in the Band
- 1997 Blue Note - A Story of Modern Jazz as Self
- 2006 Herbie Hancock: Possibilities as Self
- 1984 Herbie Hancock Trio: Hurricane! as Self - Piano
- 1986 'Round Midnight as Eddie Wayne
- 2004 Larry presents: Best of The 80s as Self
- 2002 World of Rhythm - Live in Lugano as Self
- 2023 Joni Mitchell - The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize For Popular Song as Self
- 1990 Dejohnette, Hancock, Holland and Metheny in Concert
- 2002 Hitters as District Attorney
- 2008 Quincy Jones : 75th Birthday Celebration Live at Montreux as Self
- 2004 One Night with Blue Note as Self
- 2006 Marcus Miller - Master Of All Trades as Self
- 2014 Keep on Keepin' On as Self
- 2001 Herbie Hancock: Jazz Channel as Herbie Hancock
- 2002 Herbie Hancock Future2future Live as Himself
- 1987 Herbie Hancock At The Munich Summer Piano Festival as Himself
- 2012 Lang Lang & Herbie Hancock - Live in Berlin as Himself
- 1991 The Neville Brothers: Tell It Like It Is
- 2011 Tribute to Miles - Jazz à Vienne as Himself
- 1991 Miles Davis - At La Villette as Himself
- 1984 I Love Quincy as Self
- 2022 Jacob Collier: In the Room Where It Happens as Self
- 2010 DeJohnette, Metheny, Holland, Hancock - Parallel Realities Live as Himself
- 2011 All-Star Jazz Show: Live from The Ed Sullivan Theater as Self
- 1990 Celebrity Guide to Wine as Self
- 2022 Herbie Hancock - Live at SummerStage 2022 as Self
- 2022 Hargrove as Self
- 2002 The Jazz Channel Presents Herbie Hancock as Himself
- 2004 Miles Electric - A Different Kind of Blue as Self
- 1987 Bobby McFerrin: Spontaneous Inventions as Himself
- 1985 The Making of Sun City as Self
- 2022 Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes as Self
- 2011 A MusiCares Tribute To Barbra Streisand as Self - Performer
- 2013 Experience Montreux as Self
- 2003 Prachtig 80: Volume 2 as Self
- 2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool as Self - Musician
- 2004 Herbie Hancock Special
- 2008 Herbie Hancock - The River Of Possibilities Tour - Jazz a Vienne as Piano
- 1988 Live at Munich Summer Piano Festiva
- 2024 Don Lewis and The Live Electronic Orchestra as Self
- 2016 Miles Ahead as Live Concert Band
- 2016 Jazz at the White House as Self
- 2023 They All Came Out to Montreux as Self
- Soon Herbie Hancock And The Rockit Band Live in London as Themself
- 2014 Herbie Hancock Trio - Full Concert - 08/14/88 - Newport Jazz Festival as Self
- 1990 Jazz Under the Skies as Self
- 2017 Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets as Defence Minister
- 1993 Indecent Proposal as Herbie Hancock
- 1995 Antonio Carlos Jobim: An All-Star Tribute as Self - Pianist
- 2011 Miles Davis: Around Midnight as Piano
- 2003 Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind as Self
- 2015 Kareem: Minority of One as Self
- 2004 Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments as Self
- 1990 Jack DeJohnette, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland: Parallel Realities Live... (Live at Mellon Jazz Festival) as Keyboards
- 2019 Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes as Self
- 2011 Gustavo Dudamel and Herbie Hancock Celebrate Gershwin
- 1995 Oscar Peterson: Music in the Key of Oscar as Self
- 2008 Miles Davis: Kind of Blue as Self
- 2014 Charles Lloyd - Arrows Into Infinity as Piano
- 2018 It Must Schwing: The Blue Note Story as Self
- 2008 Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound as Self
- 1986 Miles Ahead: The Music of Miles Davis as Self
- 2010 Music as Self
- 2019 International Jazz Day Australia Concert 2019 as Self
- 2015 Marcus as Self
- 2018 Q85: A Musical Celebration for Quincy Jones as Self
- 2009 We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial as Self
- 2019 That Click as Self
- 2011 On the Shoulders of Giants
- 1991 Branford Marsalis: Steep as Self
- 2004 Santana: Hymns for Peace - Live at Montreux
- 2016 More Than Jazz as Himself
- 2019 Buster Williams Bass to Infinity as Himself
- 2016 River of Gold as Narrator
- 1996 Wayne Shorter: Live at Montreux 1996
- 1974 PBS Soundstage 1974: Chick Corea & Return to Forever + Herbie Hancock & The Headhunters
- 1964 Miles Davis Quintet: Milan 1964
- 2025 Herbie as Self (Archives)
- 2011 A Man's Story as Self
- Soon Herbie Hancock And The Rockit Band as Self
- 1986 Before Midnight as Self (archive footage)
- 2017 Chick Corea: The Musician as Self
- 2024 Henry Mancini: 100 at the Hollywood Bowl as Self
- 2026 Tuner as Herbie Hancock
- Soon Herbie Hancock - Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 2010 as Self — Acoustic piano / Keyboards
- 2003 The Ellen DeGeneres Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1972 Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1992 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ( 1 episode )
- 1973 Rock Concert ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2015 StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1975 Saturday Night Live ( 1 episode ) as Self - Musical Guest
- 2014 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1962 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1992 ECHO-Verleihung ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1997 Classic Albums ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2015 Jay Leno's Garage ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2014 Girl Meets World ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1971 Great Performances ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 1959 The Grammys ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 2020 By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem ( 4 episodes ) as Self
- 1997 Glastonbury ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1978 The South Bank Show ( 1 episode )
- 1992 Later... with Jools Holland ( 2 episodes )
