Herbie Hancock

Just out of knee-pants, Hancock hit the jazz world after performing Mozart with the Chicago Symphony at age eleven. Hancock's piano became a fixture of the New York club and studio scene after he graduated with degrees in music and electrical engineering. His first solo albums at age twenty-one embraced Soul, gospel-infused Hard Bop, and cerebral Post Bop (Hancock is the kind of artist who can pen the groovy club hit "Watermelon Man" and turn around and record the sweeping album Maiden Voyage without seeming to break a sweat). He joined Eric Dolphy and Miles Davis, released groundbreaking soundtrack work like Blow Up, established the Electro-Funk template with Head Hunters, and won an Academy Award for his work on Round Midnight. Today, Hancock continues to look to the future while celebrating music from several centuries and cultures.