The Jazz Pianist ~ Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modern music. Throughout his explorations, he has transcended limitations and genres while still maintaining his unique, unmistakable voice. Herbie's success at expanding the possibilities of musical thought has placed him in the annals of this century's visionaries. With an illustrious career spanning five decades, he continues to amaze audiences and never ceases to expand the public's vision of what music, particularly jazz, is all about today.

Herbie Hancock's creative path has moved fluidly between almost every development in acoustic and electronic jazz and R&B since 1960. He has attained an enviable balance of commercial and artistic success, arriving at a point in his career where he ventures into every new project motivated purely by the desire to expand the boundaries of his creativity.

There are few artists in the music industry who have gained more respect and cast more influence than Herbie Hancock. As the immortal Miles Davis said in his autobiography, "Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven't heard anybody yet who has come after him."

In the latest 50th Grammy Awards, viewers who endured the occasionally sleep-inducing telecast were rewarded with a final shock, when 67-year-old jazz pianist Herbie Hancock took the Album of the Year trophy for "River: The Joni Letters." His tribute to singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell was the first jazz album to take the title since 1965, a fact in which he reveled at the podium.

"It's been 43 years since the first and only time since that a jazz artist got the Album of the Year Award," he said. "And, I'd like to thank the Academy for courageously breaking the mold this time. And, in doing so, honor the giants upon whose shoulders I stand; some of whom, like Miles Davis, John Coltraine, unquestionable deserved this award in the past. But, this is a new day that proves that the impossible can be made possible. Yes, we can … to coin a phrase."

While the recording industry undergoes a bumpy transition from traditional music delivery methods to digital downloads, the Grammy Awards retain one overriding advantage over other honors. Musicians' peers and not the public determine the winners; a trait which should stand the Grammys in good stead during their second half-century.

Awards that won by Herbie Hancock in the past Grammy Awards as the following.

2007 - 50th Annual Grammy Awards: Album Of The Year, River: The Joni Letters.
2007 - 50th Annual Grammy Awards: Best Contemporary Jazz Album, River: The Joni Letters.
2004 - 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, Speak Like A Child.
2002 - 45th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, My Ship.
2002 - 45th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group, Directions In Music.
1998 - 41st Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual Or Group, Gershwin's World.
1998 - 41st Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s), St. Louis Blues.
1996 - 39th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best Instrumental Composition, Manhattan (Island Of Lights And Love).
1994 - 37th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual Or Group, A Tribute To Miles.
1984 - 27th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best R&B Instrumental Performance, Sound System.
1983 - 26th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best R&B Instrumental Performance, Rockit.

Source from www.herbiehancock.com.

by 旭日の革