Herbie Hancock

"Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven’t heard anybody yet who has come after him.” – Miles Davis

A true icon of modern music who is now in the seventh decade of his professional life, Herbie Hancock remains where he has always been: at the forefront of world culture, technology, business, and music. 

Hancock has been an integral part of every popular music movement since the 1960s. As a member of the Miles Davis Quintet, he pioneered a groundbreaking sound in jazz and developed new approaches on his own recordings.

His work in the 70s—with record-breaking albums such as Head Hunters, which became the first jazz album to go platinum—combined electric jazz with funk and rock in an innovative style that continues to influence contemporary music. By the mid-70s, Hancock was playing for stadium-sized crowds all over the world and had no fewer than four albums in the pop charts at once. 

Hancock received an Academy Award for his Round Midnight film score and has won 14 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.

Hancock maintains a thriving career outside the performing stage and recording studio. Recently named by the Los Angeles Philharmonics as Creative Chair for Jazz, he currently also serves as Institute Chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, the foremost international organization devoted to the development of jazz performance and education worldwide. Hancock was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 2011, received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2013, and was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. 

Hancock is currently in the studio at work on a new album.