Pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer Herbert Jeffrey “Herbie” Hancock was born April 12, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois. Hancock’s classical piano training started at age 7 and at eleven he performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 26 in D Major with the Chicago Symphony. After a period of self-instruction and studies with jazz pianist Chris Anderson,Hancock gigged with Donald Byrd, Coleman Hawkins, Oliver Nelson and Phil Woods. He joined the Miles Davis Quintet in 1963 and has remained on top of the art form ever since. Herbie Hancock turns 80 years old! 

Herbie Hancock is arguably the most influential practitioner of modern jazz piano since Thelonious Monk. From the bebop stylings of Bud Powell and Wynton Kelly, the classical legacy of Ravel and Debussy, and not least from the diverse genres of contemporary music exploding around him, Hancock has forged a style all his own. Hancock continues to balance the acoustic and electric, the tradition and the modern. His 1998 Grammy-award winning CD Gershwin’s World and his most recent disk, Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall (Verve, 2002) with saxophonist Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove, reveal his wide-ranging commitment to the music. Not content to rest on any of his significant laurels, Herbie continues to push the limits and definitions of jazz and pop.

The New Standards LIVE

New York Minute 0:30
Norwegian Wood 23:05
Thieves In The Temple 33:46

Herbie Hancock: piano
Michael Brecker: tenor saxophone
John Scofield: guitar
Dave Holland: bass
Jack DeJohnette: drums
Don Alias: percussions

June 27th 1997, Montreal Jazz Festival

The Herbie Hancock Trio playing live at the 1988 Newport Jazz Festival.

Personnel:

Herbie Hancock, piano
Buster Williams, double bass
Al Foster, drums