From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Herbert Jeffrey Hancock born April 12 1940 is an American pianist bandleader and composer As part of Miles Daviss second great quintet Hancock helped redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the postbop sound He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers and funk Hancocks music is often melodic and accessible he has had many songs cross over and achieved success among pop audiences His music embraces elements of funk and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz In his jazz improvisation he possesses a unique creative blend of jazz blues and modern classical music with harmonic stylings much like the styles of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel Hancocks bestknown solo works include Cantaloupe Island Watermelon Man later performed by dozens of musicians including bandleader Mongo Santamaría Maiden Voyage Chameleon and the singles I Thought It Was You and Rockit His 2007 tribute album River The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year only the second jazz album ever to win the award after GetzGilberto in 1965 As a member of Soka Gakkai Hancock is an adherent of the Nichiren school of Mahayana Buddhism Description above from the Wikipedia article Herbie Hancock licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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