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Herbie Hancock music biography continued...

Hancock was recognized as a great talent as a youngster and played the first movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 5 at a young people's concert with the Chicago Symphony at age eleven. He recorded his first solo album Takin' Off for Blue Note Records in 1962 and it yielded his first hit, "Watermelon Man." The album caught the attention of Miles Davis, who asked Hancock to join his new quintet in 1963 on piano. During his five years with Davis, Hancock recorded classic after classic, including the albums ESP, Nefertiti, and Sorcerer. He also recorded for Blue Note on his own and two of his albums during this time-- Empyrean Isles (1964) and Maiden Voyage (1965) were to be two of the most famous and influential jazz LPs of the sixties, winning praise for their innovation and accessibility. After leaving Miles Davis in 1968, Hancock stepped full-time into the new electronic jazz-funk that was sweeping the world. Hancock gathered a new band called The Headhunters and, in 1973, recorded Head Hunters--a hugely successful crossover hit which became the first jazz album to go platinum. By mid-decade, Hancock was playing for stadium-sized crowds all over the world and had no fewer than four albums in the pop charts at once, making him the most successful jazz crossover artist of his day.



In the early 80s, Hancock's yen for experimentation led him to the groundbreaking album Future Shock and the hit single "Rockit," which rocked the dance and R&B charts, winning a Grammy for Best R&B Instrumental. Sound System, the follow-up to Future Shock, also received a Grammy in the R&B instrumental category. Hancock won an Oscar in 1986 for scoring the film 'Round Midnight, which would lead to other award-winning film and television assignments. Hancock signed to the Polygram Label Group in 1994. After an adventurous pop-oriented project for Mercury Records, Dis Is Da Drum, he moved on to Polygram's Verve label, assembling an all-star band to record 1996's Grammy-winning The New Standard, and an all-star cast of musicians to create Gershwin's World, a celebration of George Gershwin, in 1998. Hancock has been just as busy in the new millennium, collaborating with today's superstars and continuing to experiment with sonic styles, a musical icon if ever there was one.