Like Ron Carter, Chicago-born pianist Herbie Hancock (b. 1940) is also a key ingredient in the A&M/CTI sound – and one of its most significant architects. Both Hancock and Carter were first-call session musicians in New York’s studio scene during the 60s and early 70s, recording many dates, together and apart.1 By the time Herbie Hancock joined Miles Davis’ famed quintet (1963-68), the pianist had already scored a hugely popular success with “Watermelon Man” – initially a hit for Mongo Santamaria and since covered by countless others. Starting out in trumpeter Donald Byrd’s group, Hancock launched a successful solo career at Blue Note, where he scored more than a few hits, from brilliant originals like “Cantaloupe Island” to highly memorable standards like “Maiden Voyage.” Creed Taylor first encountered Herbie Hancock on the terrific Up with Donald Byrd (1964) and worked with the pianist on a few sessions through Stan Getz’s Claus Ogerman-arranged Voices (1966). Taylor tapped the pianist for a remarkable 13 albums in the A&M/CTI catalog, while Hancock himself switched to Warner Bros. for some incredibly under-rated albums of his own. Herbie Hancock was featured on several landmark CTI albums in the early 70s, while simultaneously turning his attention to his Mwandishi band (1970-74). He scored a huge jazz hit in 1973 with “Chameleon” and a string of fusion classics followed on Columbia. Hancock hit again in 1983 with “Rockit,” an early MTV classic, and then again in 2008 with River – The Joni Letters, which won a Grammy Award for best album of the year, the first jazz album to receive such an honor since the Creed Taylor-produced Getz/Gilberto in 1965.
- Curiously, Herbie Hancock’s 2014 autobiography, “Possibilities,” avoids acknowledging most all of the many sessions Hancock worked on over the years, outside of his formative work with Donald Byrd and, of course, Miles Davis – leaving no hint of what he felt about his contributions to recordings with, say, Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond or Milton Nascimento. ↩︎