Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He began his career playing with trumpeter Donald Byrd’s group. Later, he joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped change the way the rhythm section worked in jazz and was one of the main creators of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, he explored new styles like jazz fusion, funk, and electro by using many types of synthesizers and electronic instruments. During this time, he released one of his most famous and influential albums, Head Hunters.

Some of Hancock’s most well-known compositions are "Cantaloupe Island," "Watermelon Man," "Maiden Voyage," and "Chameleon." These songs are now considered jazz standards. In the 1980s, he had a popular single called "Rockit," which he created with bassist/producer Bill Laswell. Hancock has won an Academy Award and 14 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for his 2007 album River: The Joni Letters, which honors his friend Joni Mitchell. In 2024, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph named Hancock the greatest keyboard player of all time. In 2025, he received the Polar Music Prize.

Since 2012, Hancock has taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He also serves as chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, which was previously called the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz until 2019.

Early life

Herbie Hancock was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Winnie Belle (née Griffin), who worked as a secretary, and Wayman Edward Hancock, who was a government meat inspector. His parents named him after Herb Jeffries, a singer and actor. Hancock attended Hyde Park High School in Chicago. He started playing the piano at age seven, and his talent was noticed early. Like many jazz pianists, Herbie took classical piano lessons. He was considered a gifted child and performed the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 26 in D Major, K. 537 (Coronation) at a young people’s concert on February 5, 1952, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. At that time, the orchestra was led by George Schick, an assistant conductor.

During his teenage years, Herbie Hancock did not study with a jazz teacher. He learned to listen carefully and understand harmony by listening to music by Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool, and recordings by jazz pianists such as George Shearing, Erroll Garner, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson. He was also influenced by the Hi-Lo’s, a vocal group. Hancock once said:

In 1960, Hancock heard Chris Anderson play music once and asked Anderson to become his teacher. Hancock often refers to Anderson as his expert in harmony.

Hancock graduated from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, in 1960, with degrees in electrical engineering and music. After graduation, he returned to Chicago and worked with Donald Byrd and Coleman Hawkins. During this time, he also took classes at Roosevelt University. Grinnell College later gave Hancock an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1972. Byrd, who was studying at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, suggested that Hancock study composition with Vittorio Giannini. Hancock studied with Giannini for a short time in 1960. Quickly, Hancock gained recognition and played with musicians such as Oliver Nelson and Phil Woods. In 1962, Hancock recorded his first solo album, Takin' Off, for Blue Note Records. The song “Watermelon Man” from Takin' Off became a hit for Mongo Santamaría, but it also helped Hancock gain the attention of Miles Davis, who was forming a new band at the time. Hancock met Davis through Tony Williams, a young drummer who was part of the new band.

Career

In May 1963, Hancock joined Davis's Second Great Quintet, which brought him a lot of attention. Davis chose Hancock because he believed Hancock was one of the most talented musicians in jazz. The rhythm section of the band included young but skilled musicians: bassist Ron Carter, 17-year-old drummer Tony Williams, and Hancock on piano. After George Coleman and Sam Rivers played saxophone, the group became more cohesive with Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone. This group is often considered one of the greatest jazz ensembles ever.

While working with Davis, Hancock also recorded many sessions for the Blue Note label. He made music under his own name and as a supporting musician with artists like Wayne Shorter, Williams, Grant Green, Bobby Hutcherson, Rivers, Byrd, Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Eric Dolphy. Hancock also created several critically praised albums with larger groups, including My Point of View (1963), Speak Like a Child (1968), and The Prisoner (1969). These albums used instruments like flugelhorn, alto flute, and bass trombone in addition to traditional jazz instruments. In 1963, Hancock released Inventions and Dimensions, an album mostly made up of improvised music, featuring bassist Paul Chambers and two Latin percussionists, Willie Bobo and Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez.

During this time, Hancock also composed the score for Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Blowup (1966), the first of many film soundtracks he would create. He also made music for American television commercials for products like Pillsbury’s Space Food Sticks, Standard Oil, Tab diet cola, and Virginia Slims cigarettes. Hancock wrote, arranged, and conducted a spy-themed song for a commercial for Silva Thins cigarettes. He wanted to record the song as a music track but was not allowed to. He changed the melody, rhythm, and tone and recorded it as "He Who Lives in Fear" on his The Prisoner album in 1969.

By the end of Hancock's time with Davis, Davis began adding rock and pop music elements to his recordings. At first, Hancock was hesitant, but he started playing electric keyboards, including the Fender Rhodes electric piano, as Davis requested. Hancock quickly adapted to these new instruments, which helped shape his future work.

In the summer of 1968, Hancock left Davis’s band under the claim that he had returned late from a honeymoon in Brazil. He formed his own sextet. Even though the band was disbanded soon after, Hancock continued to appear on Davis’s recordings for a few years. His contributions included albums like In a Silent Way, A Tribute to Jack Johnson, and On the Corner.

In 1969, Hancock left Blue Note Records and signed with Warner Bros. Records. That same year, he composed the soundtrack for Bill Cosby’s animated television special Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert. Music from the soundtrack was later included on the R&B-inspired album Fat Albert Rotunda (1969), which had strong jazz influences. One of the jazzier songs, "Tell Me a Bedtime Story," was later reworked as an electronic-sounding track for Quincy Jones’s album Sounds…and Stuff Like That!! (1978).

Hancock became interested in electronic musical instruments. Influenced by Davis’s Bitches Brew (1970), he began making music that combined electronic and acoustic instruments. His first experiments in electronic music involved a group with Hancock, bassist Buster Williams, drummer Billy Hart, and three horn players: Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Julian Priester (trombone), and Bennie Maupin (multi-reedist). Patrick Gleeson later joined to play and program synthesizers.

The group, later a septet with Gleeson, released three albums under Hancock’s name: Mwandishi (1971), Crossings (1972), and Sextant (1973). Two more albums, Realization and Inside Out, were recorded under Henderson’s name with the same musicians. The music showed strong improvisation and was influenced by classical composers who used electronic music. These three albums, released between 1971 and 1973, became known as the "Mwandishi" albums, named after a Swahili word Hancock used during this time ("Mwandishi" means "writer" in Swahili). The first two albums, including Fat Albert Rotunda, were later released as a two-CD set called Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings in 1994. "Hornets" from Mwandishi was later revised as "Virtual Hornets" on the 2001 album Future2Future.

Among the instruments used by Hancock and Gleeson were the Fender Rhodes piano, ARP Odyssey, ARP 2600, ARP Pro Soloist Synthesizer, a Mellotron, and the Moog synthesizer III.

Hancock formed the Headhunters, keeping only Bennie Maupin from the previous group and adding bassist Paul Jackson, percussionist Bill Summers, and drummer Harvey Mason. The album Head Hunters (1973) became a hit, reaching pop audiences but facing criticism from some jazz fans. Stephen Erlewine, writing for AllMusic, said, "Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital three decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, soul, and hip-hop." Brian Case and Stan Britt, however, called the album "uninteresting" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz in 1978.

Drummer Harvey Mason was replaced by Mike Clark, and the band released a second album, Thrust (1974). A live album from a Japan performance, featuring songs from the first two Head Hunters releases, was released in 1975 as Flood. This album was well received, though not as commercially successful as Head Hunters. The Headhunters made another successful album called *Survival of the F

Personal life

Herbie Hancock has been married to Gigi Hancock (born Meixner) since 1968, and the couple has one daughter. In a 2019 interview, Herbie said: "Gigi is kind and caring. She truly values others and spends much of her time helping her friends. She has a generous heart. At the same time, she will not allow mistakes to go unnoticed. If someone tries to hide something from her, she will quickly point it out. She introduced me to the pop art scene in New York during the 1960s, and I helped her connect with the world of jazz."

In 1985, Herbie’s sister, Jean, who worked as a computer expert and wrote lyrics for him, Earth, Wind & Fire, Dianne Reeves, and Booker T. & the M.G.'s, died in the crash of Delta Air Lines Flight 191.

In his 2014 memoir Possibilities, written with Lisa Dickey, Herbie shared that he struggled with an addiction to crack cocaine in the 1990s. He explained that his wife and daughter helped him stop using drugs: "This was an intervention, and I felt very embarrassed, but I also felt relief. I had been hiding this problem for so long. I looked at my daughter and cried, wondering how I had reached this point, but I was grateful it was finally over." Since 1972, Herbie has practiced Nichiren Buddhism as a member of the Buddhist group Soka Gakkai International. Part of his spiritual practice includes reciting the Buddhist chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo daily. In 2013, Herbie’s conversation with musician Wayne Shorter and Soka Gakkai International president Daisaku Ikeda about jazz, Buddhism, and life was published in Japanese, English, and French. In 2014, Herbie gave a speech at Harvard University titled "Buddhism and Creativity" as part of his Norton Lecture series.

In 1963, at age 23, Herbie bought a new 1963 AC Shelby Cobra from a dealership in New York City for $6,000. He still owns the car, making him the longest owner of a Cobra. The car, with serial number CSX2006, was the sixth Cobra ever made, making it rare and valuable. It is one of only 75 Cobras originally built with a 260 cubic-inch engine and the only Cobra ever made with a two-barrel carburetor. The car is estimated to be worth more than $2 million. Herbie plans to give it to his grandson.

Concert films

• 2000: DeJohnette, Hancock, Holland, and Metheny – Live in Concert
• 2002: Herbie Hancock Trio: Hurricane! Features Ron Carter and Billy Cobham
• 2002: The Jazz Channel Presents Herbie Hancock (BET on Jazz) Features Cyro Baptista, Terri Lynne Carrington, Ira Coleman, Eli Degibri, and Eddie Henderson (recorded in 2000)
• 2004: Herbie Hancock – Future2Future Live
• 2005: Herbie Hancock's Headhunters Watermelon Man (Live in Japan)
• 2006: Herbie Hancock – Possibilities Features John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Joss Stone, and more

Books

• Herbie Hancock: Possibilities (2014), ISBN 978-0-670-01471-2
• Reaching Beyond: Improvisations on Jazz, Buddhism, and a Joyful Life (2017), ISBN 978-1-938-25276-1

Awards

• 1986: Best Music Score for a Movie, for Round Midnight
• 1984: Best R&B Instrumental Performance, for Rockit
• 1985: Best R&B Instrumental Performance, for Sound-System
• 1988: Best Instrumental Music Piece, for Call Sheet Blues
• 1995: Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Solo or Group, for A Tribute to Miles
• 1997: Best Instrumental Music Piece, for Manhattan (Island of Lights and Love)
• 1999: Best Instrumental Arrangement with Vocal(s), for St. Louis Blues
• 1999: Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Solo or Group, for Gershwin's World
• 2003: Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Solo or Group, for Directions in Music at Massey Hall
• 2003: Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, for My Ship
• 2005: Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, for Speak Like a Child
• 2008: Album of the Year, for River: The Joni Letters
• 2008: Best Contemporary Jazz Album, for River: The Joni Letters
• 2011: Best Improvised Jazz Solo, for A Change Is Gonna Come
• 2011: Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, for Imagine

• Keyboard Readers' Poll: Best Jazz Pianist (1987, 1988); Keyboardist (1983, 1987)
• Playboy Music Poll: Best Jazz Group (1985), Best Jazz Album: Rockit (1985), Best Jazz Keyboards (1985, 1986), Best R&B Instrumentalist (1987), Best Jazz Instrumentalist (1988)
• MTV Awards (5), Best Concept Video, Rockit, 1983–'84
• Gold Note Jazz Awards – New York Chapter of the National Black MBA Association, 1985
• French Award Officer of the Order of Arts & Letters, 1985
• BMI Film Music Award, Round Midnight, 1986
• Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music, 1986
• U.S. Radio Award, Best Original Music Scoring – Thom McAnn Shoes, 1986
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Best Score – Round Midnight, 1986
• BMI Film Music Award, Colors, 1989
• Miles Davis Award, Montreal International Jazz Festival, 1997
• Soul Train Music Award for Best Jazz Album – The New Standard, 1997
• VH1's 100 Greatest Videos, Rockit is 10th Greatest Video, 2001
• NEA Jazz Masters Award, 2004
• Downbeat Readers' Poll Hall of Fame, 2005
• Kennedy Center Honors, 2013
• Benjamin Franklin Medal (Royal Society of Arts), 2018

• American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2013
• Foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.