50 Fun Facts About Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock was born in 1940 in which US city?

His parents named him after the singer and actor Herb Jeffries.

At age 11, Hancock played a movement of a Mozart piano concerto with which ensemble?

It was the first movement of the 'Coronation' concerto, K. 537, at a young people's concert in February 1952.

Hancock graduated from Grinnell College in 1960 with degrees in music and which other subject?

The technical background foreshadowed his later fascination with synthesizers and electronics.

Hancock's 1962 debut album for Blue Note was titled what?

It included 'Watermelon Man', which gave Mongo Santamaría a hit single and caught the ear of Miles Davis.

Which trumpeter's group gave Hancock his start before Miles Davis came calling?

Byrd also suggested he study composition with Vittorio Giannini at the Manhattan School of Music.

Which 17-year-old drummer introduced Hancock to Miles Davis in 1963?

Ron Carter played bass; George Coleman and Sam Rivers each held the saxophone chair before it was settled.

Hancock's first film score, in 1966, was for which Michelangelo Antonioni film?

He also wrote jingles for products such as Pillsbury's Space Food Sticks and Virginia Slims.

Under what pretext was Hancock dismissed from Miles Davis's band in 1968?

He kept appearing on Davis records anyway, including In a Silent Way and On the Corner.

Hancock composed the soundtrack for a 1969 animated TV special about which Bill Cosby character?

The music resurfaced on Fat Albert Rotunda, his first album for Warner Bros.

Hancock's early-1970s albums are called the 'Mwandishi' records. What does Mwandishi mean in Swahili?

Synthesist Patrick Gleeson turned the sextet into a septet for Mwandishi, Crossings and Sextant.

Hancock's 1973 crossover hit album, one of the best-selling jazz records ever, was titled what?

Its opening track 'Chameleon' became a standard; the follow-up was Thrust.

Which member of the Mwandishi sextet was the only one Hancock kept when he formed the Headhunters?

He added Paul Jackson on bass, Bill Summers on percussion and Harvey Mason on drums.

Hancock scored the first film in which vigilante franchise in 1974?

'Joanna's Theme' from it was re-recorded on his 1997 duet album 1+1.

Hancock's late-1970s supergroup VSOP reunited the classic Davis quintet with which trumpeter in Miles's place?

Wynton Marsalis filled the role in the early-1980s 'VSOP II'; Wallace Roney later played Miles's part on A Tribute to Miles.

Hancock's late-1970s hits 'I Thought It Was You' and 'You Bet Your Love' put his voice through what device?

Critics were unimpressed, but the disco-era experiments sold.

Hancock's 1983 hit 'Rockit' is credited as the first mainstream single to feature what technique?

It came from the album Future Shock and became an anthem for breakdancers.

Which bassist-producer worked with Hancock on 'Rockit' and his three 1980s electro albums?

The trilogy was Future Shock, Sound-System and Perfect Machine; they reunited on Future2Future in 2001.

Who directed the robot-filled 'Rockit' video that won five awards at the first MTV Video Music Awards?

The video reached heavy MTV rotation and the single hit No. 8 in the UK.

Hancock won an Academy Award for the score of which 1986 film, in which he also acted?

Bertrand Tavernier's film starred saxophonist Dexter Gordon; Hancock also scored Colors and Harlem Nights that decade.

Hancock's 2007 tribute River: The Joni Letters won which top Grammy?

Norah Jones, Tina Turner and Corinne Bailey Rae sang on it, and Leonard Cohen contributed a spoken piece.

Hancock's 1998 album Gershwin's World featured which two famous guests among many others?

Hancock then toured it with a sextet including Terri Lyne Carrington and Eddie Henderson.

Hancock's 1995 album The New Standard reinterpreted pop songs by which of these artists?

Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, Prince and Peter Gabriel were also covered by an all-star band with John Scofield and Michael Brecker.

Which saxophonist recorded the 1997 duet album 1+1 with Hancock?

The two later published a dialogue on jazz and Buddhism with Soka Gakkai president Daisaku Ikeda.

Hancock has followed which Buddhist tradition since 1972?

He chants Nam Myoho Renge Kyo daily as a member of Soka Gakkai International.

Hancock bought a new AC Shelby Cobra in 1963 and still owns it. What distinction does that give him?

It was the sixth Cobra built and the only one fitted with a two-barrel carburettor; he plans to give it to his grandson.

Hancock's 2005 duets album Possibilities featured which of these guests?

Her 'A Song for You' was Grammy-nominated; Carlos Santana, Paul Simon and Sting also appeared.

Besides 'Cantaloupe Island', 'Watermelon Man' and 'Chameleon', which jazz standard did Hancock write?

'Maiden Voyage' began life as a cologne advertisement.

Which UK band's 1982 album New Gold Dream features a Hancock synthesizer solo on 'Hunter and the Hunted'?

Three years later he guested on So Red the Rose by the Duran Duran offshoot Arcadia.

Hancock's memoir Possibilities revealed a 1990s addiction to what?

His wife and daughter staged the intervention that got him sober.

In 2013 Hancock became a professor of jazz at which university?

He also chaired the institute formerly named for Thelonious Monk, which was renamed for him in 2019.

What was the theme of Hancock's 2014 Norton Lectures at Harvard?

One lecture was titled 'Buddhism and Creativity'.

On which electric keyboard did Miles Davis insist Herbie Hancock double, shaping his 1970s fusion work?

Hancock was initially reluctant but adapted quickly, and the instrument shaped his later work.

Hancock's sister Jean, a lyricist who wrote for him and Earth, Wind & Fire, died in 1985 in what event?

She was also a computer consultant who wrote lyrics for Dianne Reeves and Booker T. & the M.G.'s.

At the 2009 Classical BRIT Awards, Hancock performed Rhapsody in Blue with which pianist?

Months earlier he had played the We Are One concert opening Barack Obama's inaugural celebrations.

Hancock's 1994 album Dis Is da Drum returned to which style?

The same year he appeared on the AIDS-awareness compilation Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool, which Time magazine named its top record of 1994.

Hancock's 2010 album, whose title nods to a John Lennon song, was called what?

A year later UNESCO named him Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue.

Which rapper mashed up 'Cantaloupe Island' with his own hit at Hancock's Kennedy Center Honors?

He mixed the US3 arrangement with 'Gin and Juice', and Mixmaster Mike of the Beastie Boys tackled 'Rockit'.

Which musician is producing Hancock's forthcoming album featuring Kendrick Lamar and Kamasi Washington?

Hancock also guested on Flying Lotus's 2014 album You're Dead!

Hancock received the Polar Music Prize in which year?

The prize is presented in Stockholm; the Daily Telegraph had ranked him the greatest keyboard player of all time a year earlier.

Hancock's 1963 album of almost entirely improvised music with two Latin percussionists was titled what?

Bassist Paul Chambers joined percussionists Willie Bobo and Osvaldo 'Chihuahua' Martinez.

After leaving Blue Note in 1969, Hancock signed with which record label?

His first two Mwandishi-era albums appeared there before he moved to Columbia, where he stayed for more than 15 years.

In 2011, Hancock was named a Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue by which body?

The ceremony took place in Paris. Three years later he was Harvard's Norton Professor of Poetry, a chair previously held by Bernstein and Stravinsky.

The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, which he chairs, carried whose name until 2019?

Hancock has chaired the institute for years; its annual competition remains one of the most prestigious launching pads for young jazz musicians.

Hancock's 1978 duet album paired him with which pianist, who had replaced him in Miles Davis's band?

The following year he released The Piano, a solo acoustic album issued only in Japan until a US release in 2004.

Hancock's 'Watermelon Man' became a hit single for which Cuban percussionist?

More importantly for Hancock, the album it came from caught the ear of Miles Davis, who was then assembling a new band.

Who contributed a spoken piece set to Hancock's piano on River: The Joni Letters?

Norah Jones, Tina Turner and Corinne Bailey Rae sang on the record, which came out the same day as Mitchell's own album Shine.

How much did the 23-year-old Hancock pay for his new AC Shelby Cobra in 1963?

Serial number CSX2006 was the sixth Cobra ever built and is now estimated to be worth more than $2 million; he plans to give it to his grandson.

Hancock's parents named him after which singer and actor?

His father was a government meat inspector and his mother a secretary; he attended Hyde Park High School on the South Side.

In 1973 Hancock scored a controversial film based on a Sam Greenlee novel. What was it called?

Greenlee had grown up in the same Chicago neighbourhood as Hancock, who wrote the music for a Death Wish film the following year.

Hancock's 1984 album Village Life was recorded with a kora player from which African country?

Foday Musa Suso also joined him for the 1987 live album Jazz Africa, both overshadowed by the electro hits of the same decade.