In the seventh decade of his professional life, Herbie Hancock remains where he has always been: at the forefront of world culture, technology and music. Hancock has been an integral part of every popular music movement since the 1960s. As a member of the Miles Davis Quintet that pioneered a groundbreaking sound in jazz, he also developed new approaches on his own recordings, followed by his work in the 1970s—with record-breaking albums such as Headhunters—that combined electric jazz with funk and rock in an innovative style that continues to influence music today. In the 1980s, “Rockit” and Future Shock marked Hancock’s foray into electronic dance sounds; during the same period, he continued to work in an acoustic setting with V.S.O.P.

Hancock is the recipient of 14 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for River: The Joni Letters; two 2011 Grammy Awards for the globally collaborative CD, The Imagine Project; an Academy Award for his Round Midnight film score; and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Hancock serves as Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and as Institute Chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. He is currently in the studio, at work on a new album.

PHOTO CREDIT: Danny Clinch