American pianist, composer and bandleader, influential in jazz, fusion and electronic experimentation.

Born Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (publicly known as Herbie Hancock). Rose to prominence in the 1960s; was a member of Miles Davis's groups; pioneer of jazz fusion and electronic experimentation; notable albums include Maiden Voyage, Takin' Off, Headhunters/Head Hunters, Sextant and Empyrean Isles.

DeBaser's reviews highlight Hancock's focus on rhythm, funk and electronic experimentation. Key albums discussed include Maiden Voyage, Headhunters and Sextant. The reviews range from high praise for his 1960s/70s classics to mixed views on some later pop-oriented records.

For:Jazz listeners, funk and fusion fans, electronic music enthusiasts, record collectors

 The mwandishi Herbert Jeffrey Hancock —the watermelon man & the great finger dancer of the Blue Note âge d'or— gathered a band of headhunters armed with percussion instruments of Mother Africa and whatever else could be used to coax the spider out of the hole (and that spider is us, lazybones elites); he made himself comfortable in front of rainforest keyboards, clavinets, synthesizers, donned a tribal mask (or a boiler with horns? both: a pressure cooker full of hyperagitated afrofunk) and began the hunting season.

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 "Cantaloupe Island" is known by everyone, even those who claim they don't know it: those who are now around twenty will remember the sampling in "Cantaloop", male members who have eyes to see will remember Rossella Brescia's backside and therefore, by association, also the piece that serves as the soundtrack to her strip.

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 The title alone says it all: this is an album completely centered on groove.

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 Experimental. Avant-garde. Sick: "Sextant" (1973) represents the pinnacle of expression in the career of this bespectacled nerd obsessed with technology, the immense and always forward-thinking Herbie Hancock.

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