Herbie Hancock is a prolific and worldwide recognized jazz pianist and song writer known for the creation of such famous Grammy Award hits as “Rockit.” Herbie was born in 1940 in the United States and started his music career as early as at the age of seven. When he was only twelve, he gave the first significant concert performing “Coronation” Concerto by Mozart along with the symphony orchestra. It was not until his high school years when Herbie started showing deep interest in jazz music. Originally, Herbie joined Grinnell College with the sole interest of focusing on electrical engineering, but his love for music took dominance over technology and in the process facilitated the switch from a technical course in engineering to music. Later on, Herbie deepened his knowledge of music under the tutelage of Chris Anderson. At the same time pre written essays inform https://manyessays.com, he played in a New York band together with Donald Byrd, the famous trumpeter.

At the age of 23 Herbie became a member of the bebop group touring the country with a number of famous or prominent jazz artists of his time including Miles Davis. It was also at this time that Herbie decided to record some jazz hits. Being part of a dynamic and evolving group allowed Herbie to produce some of the most daring and harmonic colorful concepts in jazz music. Herbie recorded a couple of songs with unique harmonic structures (quartal harmony) and funky rhythms. At the same time, Herbie also worked for the Blue Note Label soloing and playing along with other famous musicians. After playing a critical background role in Davis’s music band, Hancock took center stage in the 1970s playing electronic keyboards in leading fusion bands. It is during this time that Herbie started producing music for the masses and for broadcast purposes. Hits such as “Chameleon,” and “Headhunter,” became popular in the jazz music circles. Prominent dance hits such as “Rockit,” and “You Bet Your Love,” won a number of awards. Herbie Hancock produced a number of hits for broadcast purposes including pieces for the films Death Wish, Blow-up and Round Midnight which ultimately won another Grammy Award. Herbie Hancock also ventured into acting and played roles in some great films including Round Midnight.

Since 1970, Herbie Hancock has played jazz along with other several renowned jazz musicians including Chick Corea. Herbie has also performed alongside some of Davis’s associates who were with Hancock from the start of the musical carrier including Wynton Marsalis and Freddie Hubbard. In 1993, the compilation of composer’s songs was released on Blue Note, it was named after his the jazz standard “Cantaloupe Island”. Herbie reunited with the musicians of the Headhunters group, which saw some of the new collaborative projects. Projects such as Future2Future involved a collaboration with some of the producers of techno music together with jazz and electronic music. Another project, Possibilities involved a fusion of jazz music and pop music. This album became special due to the participation of such artists as Paul Simon, Steve Wonder, and Santana.

Herbie Hancock remains one of the jazz artists with numerous Grammy Awards won either as a solo jazz artist or in collaborative music projects and movies. Herbie has been winning Grammy Awards since 1983 with the latest Grammy being in 2011 where Herbie collaborated with artists such as John Legend and Jeff Beck in the Imagine project. Herbie Hancock was inducted into the Hall of Fame and the Big Band in 1995.

Having converted to Buddhism in 1972, Herbie Hancock consideres his harmonic concept to be solely based on the inspiration of Clare Fischer. The famous musician has been a practicing Buddhist for about 40 years. Herbie Hancock recognizes that religion gives him an opportunity to see the changes in humanity. Moreover, Hancock believes jazz music can be used to change the society.

A musical piece “Rockit” was composed in 1983 by Herbie Hancock and produced by Bill Laswell. The synthesizer and drum machine programmer Michael Beinhom assisted in creation of this song. In this song, the composer uses the mixture of jazz and turntablizm. This piece is classified under the genre electro music. The song became part and parcel of Herbie Hancock’s album Future Shock. A number of different versions and remixes of “Rockit” have been done by well-known artists who have combined the electric music beats with other genres including Hip-hop and pop music. Herbie Hancock performed the hip-hop version of “Rockit” during the 1948 Grammy Awards. The infusion of such musical instruments as keyboards and synthesizer, along with heavily mechanized arrangement was a revolutionary step in jazz of this period. Jazz was initially supposed to be performed on classical instruments such as piano, trumpet and guitar. By choosing to complement traditional jazz music with techno sounds, Herbie Hancock has established a new form of music, which would be later copied and used across the world. Thus, a combination of jazz and electronic music gave birth to a new form of musical culture where classical jazz is readily associated with other styles breaking all preconceptions about musical genres. This move may well explain the numerous infusions of jazz music with other contemporary types of music including reggae and hip-hop. “Rockit” serves as the best illustration of a new type of music keen on bringing two generations, which listened to different types of music close together. “Rockit” is considered as one of the songs, which sought to use the creativity of the younger generation. It was inspired by the young people playing in the city streets of the Bronx who were exploiting percussive beats and spoken word poetry combined with a new form of rap.

Unlike the common jazz song where music starts with people holding and playing different musical instruments including the violin, bass guitar and trumpet, “Rockit” is deprived of all these elements associated with the full ensemble. Instead, it starts from the famous scratching of the disc by the synthesizer. The scratching of the discs occurs back and forth at a high tempo, which is not common in most jazz pieces. After approximately 20 seconds, jazz instruments including drum, piano, and trumpet are all played at once creating a synchronizing musical beat, which fuses jazz and contemporary music. The scratching effect (commonly associated with disc jockeys) ends immediately after the musical instruments come into play. The musical instruments set the tempo of the song. A musical theme with a distinct melody performed on synthesizer sounds for about 30 seconds before reaching the climax and is replaced by the scratching of the disc for a second time. This time, the scratching is faster than the initial opening phase although it takes a significantly shorter period. A drumbeat interjects the scratching of the vinyl disc before it is repeated a number of times. The same musical theme follows the scratch beats with a higher tempo compared to the start of the song. A third scratch beat different from the initial one is introduced after the musical instruments perform their short part. Unlike the first two cases where there seemed to be a quick back and forth movement of the vinyl disc, this one is low paced. It also fits perfectly with the musical theme preceding its infusion. This time, the scratching is accompanied by different musical instruments. The rest of the song is performed with the help of all musical instruments along with the scratching sound produced by the synthesizer. In this case, the tempo is significantly low compared to the previous climax in the music set. The youtube link below provides the visual and audio elements used in the song “Rockit” performed by the musical genius Herbie Hancock and other collaborators. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHhD4PD75zY

The talent of Herbie Hancock cannot be ignored when jazz music is involved. The dominance of the artist is well illustrated by the numerous Grammy Awards won during his lifetime. To date, Herbie Hancock still gives concerts and collaborates with other musicians especially those interested in mixing his jazz music with the other contemporary styles. Such fusion of musical genres meets the demands of the youngest members of the society who may not want to listen to traditional jazz music. It also meets the demands of the older generation who would prefer hearing the sound of either the bass guitar or piano associated with jazz music. Jazz music has evolved over time because musicians such as Herbie Hancock were brave enough to explore genres outside of classical jazz.