Herbie Hancock: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Herbie Hancock's map runs from Chicago conservatory training through Miles Davis's second great quintet, into the electric Mwandishi cosmos and the funk of Head Hunters, then out to hip-hop and turntablism. His influences are unusually wide: vocal-group harmony arrangers, European impressionists, German electronic composers, Buddhist philosophy. This mix traces each thread and the producers who carried it forward.

The Kynda mix for Herbie Hancock

• Key Influence · Miles Smiles by Miles Davis (1967). Hancock joined Davis in 1963 and spent five years in the second great quintet, where Davis's instruction to leave out what he didn't need — famously telling him not to play the butter notes — reshaped his comping into sparse, ambiguous harmony. Miles Smiles captures the band at its most elastic, with Hancock often abandoning the left hand entirely. The post-bop language he helped architect here underpins everything from Maiden Voyage to Mwandishi.
• Influencia Obscura · Suddenly It's the Hi-Lo's by The Hi-Lo's (1957). Hancock has repeatedly named the vocal quartet's arrangements — written by a young Clare Fischer — as the single biggest influence on his harmonic thinking, a claim few listeners expect from the architect of Sextant. Fischer's close, chromatically restless four-part writing for the Hi-Lo's gave Hancock a model for stacking voices that resurfaces in the horn chorales of Speak Like a Child and the keyboard clusters of Mwandishi.
• Local Roots · At the Pershing: But Not for Me by Ahmad Jamal (1958). Recorded in a Chicago lounge on the South Side while Hancock was a local teenage prodigy who had already played Mozart with the Chicago Symphony at eleven, Jamal's trio became the city's defining piano sound — space, dynamics, vamps held almost to silence. That use of groove-as-architecture, which Miles Davis also prized, is a direct ancestor of the ostinato-driven writing on Watermelon Man and Cantaloupe Island.
• Beyond the Medium · Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Claude Debussy (1894). Hancock's training was classical first — a concerto with the Chicago Symphony at eleven, then study at Grinnell — and he has consistently cited Debussy and Ravel as the source of his harmonic palette. Debussy's whole-tone and parallel-fourth writing, floating free of functional resolution, is the mechanism behind the famous suspended chords of Maiden Voyage and the orchestral horn blend of Speak Like a Child.
• Peer · Return to Forever by Chick Corea (1972). Corea literally replaced Hancock in Miles Davis's band and the two spent decades as friendly rivals, eventually touring as an acoustic piano duo in 1978 and again in the 2010s. Return to Forever, cut with Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, is Corea's electric-piano answer to the same post-Davis question Hancock faced, trading Mwandishi's darkness for Brazilian light — the clearest sibling record to Crossings.
• From the Canon · Maiden Voyage by Herbie Hancock (1965). Cut with his Davis bandmates Ron Carter and Tony Williams plus George Coleman and Freddie Hubbard, this is the clearest statement of Hancock's compositional signature: suspended fourth-based chords, oceanic tempos and melodies that refuse to resolve. The title track became one of the most taught tunes in jazz pedagogy, and its harmonic ambiguity is the hinge between his Blue Note soul-jazz and the electric work ahead.
• Key Collaborator · Speak No Evil by Wayne Shorter (1966). Shorter was Hancock's closest lifelong musical partner — quintet bandmate under Davis, then co-founder of V.S.O.P., guest across Hancock's electric records, and duo partner on the 1997 album 1+1. Speak No Evil has Hancock in the piano chair interpreting Shorter's dark, folkloric harmony with Elvin Jones and Freddie Hubbard, the best document of how the two heard chords the same way.
• Legacy · Black Radio by Robert Glasper Experiment (2012). Glasper names Hancock as his central model and has performed and recorded with him, including on Hancock's own later projects. Black Radio executes the Hancock playbook exactly: a jazz pianist with impeccable harmonic credentials fronting a band built on contemporary Black popular rhythm, with guest vocalists and an audience far outside jazz clubs — the Head Hunters strategy applied to neo-soul and hip-hop.

What influenced Herbie Hancock

• Miles Davis (1926). Davis prompted Hancock to use electric keyboards. (also via Head Hunters, Miles Smiles, Birth of the Cool) “Provoked by Miles Davis to use electric keyboards, Herbie Hancock quickly developed his taste for gadgets into an appreciation for electric and synthesized sounds.” (Wikipedia)
• Bill Evans. Hancock explicitly includes Evans among the influences on his harmonic concept. (also via Sunday at the Village Vanguard) “Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept... he and Bill Evans , and Ravel and Gil Evans , finally. You know, that's where it came from.” (Wikipedia)
• Karlheinz Stockhausen. Hancock is listed among jazz musicians who cited Stockhausen as an influence. (also via Gesang der Jünglinge) “Jazz musicians such as Miles Davis , [ 210 ] Charles Mingus , [ 211 ] Herbie Hancock , [ 212 ] Yusef Lateef , [ 213 ] [ 214 ] and Anthony Braxton [ 215 ] cite Stockhausen as an influence.” (Wikipedia)
• Oscar Peterson. The article names Peterson among pianists whose recordings Hancock listened to during his musical development. (also via Night Train) “He developed his ear and sense of harmony by listening to Hard Bop by Art Blakey 's the Jazz Messengers , Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis , and the recordings of jazz pianists, including George Shearing , Erroll Garner , Bill Evans and …” (Wikipedia)
• The Hi-Lo's. Hancock credits hearing the Hi-Lo's with helping him learn new voicings. (also via Suddenly It's the Hi-Lo's) “By the time I actually heard the Hi-Lo's, I started picking that stuff out; my ear was happening. I could hear stuff and that's when I really learned some much farther-out voicings” (Wikipedia)
• Joni Mitchell (1943). Hancock publicly credited Mitchell as an influence alongside Davis and Coltrane. “In accepting the award, Hancock paid tribute to Mitchell as well as to Miles Davis and John Coltrane.” (Wikipedia)
• Sunday at the Village Vanguard by Bill Evans (1961). Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Bill Evans) — titan for Herbie Hancock “He developed his ear and sense of harmony by listening to Hard Bop by Art Blakey's the Jazz Messengers, Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis, and the recordings of jazz pianists, including George Shearing, Erroll Garner, Bill Evans and Oscar…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Hard Bop by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. The article identifies the album as music Hancock listened to while developing his ear and harmonic sense. “He developed his ear and sense of harmony by listening to Hard Bop by Art Blakey 's the Jazz Messengers , Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis” (Wikipedia)
• Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis (1957). The article identifies the album as music Hancock listened to while developing his ear and harmonic sense. “He developed his ear and sense of harmony by listening to Hard Bop by Art Blakey 's the Jazz Messengers , Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis” (Wikipedia)
• George Shearing. The article names Shearing among pianists whose recordings Hancock listened to during his musical development. “He developed his ear and sense of harmony by listening to Hard Bop by Art Blakey 's the Jazz Messengers , Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis , and the recordings of jazz pianists, including George Shearing , Erroll Garner , Bill Evans and …” (Wikipedia)
• Erroll Garner. The article names Garner among pianists whose recordings Hancock listened to during his musical development. “He developed his ear and sense of harmony by listening to Hard Bop by Art Blakey 's the Jazz Messengers , Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis , and the recordings of jazz pianists, including George Shearing , Erroll Garner , Bill Evans and …” (Wikipedia)
• Clare Fischer. Hancock explicitly credits Fischer's arrangements and names him a major harmonic influence. “I really got that from Clare Fischer 's arrangements for the Hi-Lo's. Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept...” (Wikipedia)
• Maurice Ravel (1875). Hancock includes Ravel among the influences on his harmonic concept. “Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept... he and Bill Evans , and Ravel and Gil Evans , finally. You know, that's where it came from.” (Wikipedia)
• Gil Evans. Hancock includes Gil Evans among the influences on his harmonic concept. “Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept... he and Bill Evans , and Ravel and Gil Evans , finally. You know, that's where it came from.” (Wikipedia)
• Chris Anderson. The article describes Hancock seeking Anderson as a teacher and regarding him as a harmonic mentor. “In 1960, Hancock heard Chris Anderson play just once and begged him to accept him as a student. [ 12 ] Hancock often mentions Anderson as his harmonic guru.” (Wikipedia)
• Vittorio Giannini. The article states that Hancock briefly studied composition with Giannini. “Byrd was attending the Manhattan School of Music in New York at the time and suggested that Hancock study composition with Vittorio Giannini (which he did for a short time in 1960).” (Wikipedia)
• Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. The article explicitly identifies Bitches Brew as an influence on Hancock's subsequent albums. “Together with the profound influence of Davis's Bitches Brew (1970), this fascination culminated in a series of albums in which electronic instruments were coupled with acoustic instruments.” (Wikipedia)
• Miles Smiles by Miles Davis. Miles Smiles (Miles Davis) — titan for Herbie Hancock “Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Night Train by Oscar Peterson (1963). Night Train (Oscar Peterson) — titan for Herbie Hancock “He developed his ear and sense of harmony by listening to Hard Bop by Art Blakey's the Jazz Messengers, Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis, and the recordings of jazz pianists, including George Shearing, Erroll Garner, Bill Evans and Oscar…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Suddenly It's the Hi-Lo's by The Hi-Lo's (1957). Suddenly It's the Hi-Lo's (The Hi-Lo's) — ghost for Herbie Hancock “Hancock was also influenced by records of the vocal group the Hi-Lo's.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Gesang der Jünglinge by Karlheinz Stockhausen (1956). Gesang der Jünglinge (Karlheinz Stockhausen) — ghost for Herbie Hancock “Jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Herbie Hancock, Yusef Lateef, and Anthony Braxton cite Stockhausen as an influence.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Human Revolution by Daisaku Ikeda (1965). The Human Revolution (Daisaku Ikeda) — culture for Herbie Hancock “In 2013, Hancock's dialogue with musician Wayne Shorter and Soka Gakkai International president Daisaku Ikeda on jazz, Buddhism and life was published in Japanese and English, then in French.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. The Rite of Spring (Igor Stravinsky) — culture for Herbie Hancock “Previous Norton lecturers include musicians Leonard Bernstein, Igor Stravinsky, and John Cage.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Claude Debussy (1894). Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Claude Debussy) — culture for Herbie Hancock

Peers and kindred spirits

• John Mayer (1977). Mayer toured with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. “A duet album called Possibilities was released in 2005. It featured duets with Carlos Santana , Paul Simon , Annie Lennox , John Mayer , Christina Aguilera , Sting , and others.” (Wikipedia)
• Keith Jarrett (1945). Jarrett describes Herbie Hancock as part of the Miles Davis band scene he later joined. (also via Maiden Voyage) “before it went more electric with Tony Williams and Wayne and Herbie--Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock--and maybe Dave Holland, maybe Ron Carter.” (Fresh Air (NPR/WHYY))
• Memory Serves by Material (1981). Memory Serves (Material) — collaborator for Herbie Hancock “Material began as a noisy dance music band, but later albums concentrated on hip hop, jazz, or spoken word readings by William S.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Antônio Carlos Jobim. Hancock performed Jobim tunes on the named compilation. “The 1996 CD Wave: The Antonio Carlos Jobim Songbook included performances of Jobim tunes by Oscar Peterson , Herbie Hancock , Chick Corea and Toots Thielemans .” (Wikipedia)
• Return to Forever by Chick Corea (1972). Return to Forever (Chick Corea) — peer for Herbie Hancock “(1976) to Future Shock (1983) === In 1978, Hancock recorded a duet with Chick Corea, who replaced him in the Davis band a decade earlier.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Heavy Weather by Weather Report (1977). Heavy Weather (Weather Report) — peer for Herbie Hancock “Alongside bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (all with members inspired by and partially responsible for the fusion-era work of Miles Davis), Weather Report is widely considered one of…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Real McCoy by McCoy Tyner. The Real McCoy (McCoy Tyner) — peer for Herbie Hancock “His melodic vocabulary was rich, ranging from raw blues to complex superimposed pentatonic scales; his approach to chord voicing (most characteristically by fourths) influenced contemporary jazz pianists such as Herbie Hancock, Chick Cor…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Speak No Evil by Wayne Shorter (1966). Speak No Evil (Wayne Shorter) — collaborator for Herbie Hancock “After George Coleman and Sam Rivers each took a turn at the saxophone spot, the quintet gelled with Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Jewel in the Lotus by Bennie Maupin (1974). The Jewel in the Lotus (Bennie Maupin) — collaborator for Herbie Hancock “Hancock's first ventures into electronic music started with a sextet comprising Hancock, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Billy Hart, and a trio of horn players: Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Julian Priester (trombone), and multireedist …” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Donald Byrd. The article places Hancock in Byrd's group at the start of his career. “He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd 's group.” (Wikipedia)
• Miles Davis Quintet. The article states that Hancock joined the Miles Davis Quintet. “Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet , where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section” (Wikipedia)
• Bill Laswell. The article explicitly calls Rockit a collaboration with Laswell. “During the 1980s, he had a hit single with the electronic instrumental " Rockit ", a collaboration with bassist/producer Bill Laswell .” (Wikipedia)
• Michael Kamen. The article credits Hancock and Kamen together on the Action Jackson score. “His film work was prolific during the 1980s, and included the scores to A Soldier's Story (1984), Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986), Action Jackson (1988 with Michael Kamen )” (Wikipedia)
• Simple Minds (1977). The article identifies Hancock's contribution to a Simple Minds album. “In 1982, Hancock contributed to the album New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) by Simple Minds , playing a synthesizer solo on the track "Hunter and the Hunted".” (Wikipedia)
• Arcadia. The article states that Hancock guest-performed on Arcadia's album. “In 1985, Hancock performed as a guest on the album So Red the Rose (1985) by the Duran Duran spinoff group Arcadia .” (Wikipedia)
• Carlos Santana. The article names Santana as a duet partner on Possibilities. “A duet album called Possibilities was released in 2005. It featured duets with Carlos Santana , Paul Simon , Annie Lennox , John Mayer , Christina Aguilera , Sting , and others.” (Wikipedia)
• Paul Simon. The article names Simon as a duet partner on Possibilities. “A duet album called Possibilities was released in 2005. It featured duets with Carlos Santana , Paul Simon , Annie Lennox , John Mayer , Christina Aguilera , Sting , and others.” (Wikipedia)
• Annie Lennox (1976). The article names Lennox as a duet partner on Possibilities. “A duet album called Possibilities was released in 2005. It featured duets with Carlos Santana , Paul Simon , Annie Lennox , John Mayer , Christina Aguilera , Sting , and others.” (Wikipedia)
• Christina Aguilera. The article names Aguilera as a duet partner on Possibilities. “A duet album called Possibilities was released in 2005. It featured duets with Carlos Santana , Paul Simon , Annie Lennox , John Mayer , Christina Aguilera , Sting , and others.” (Wikipedia)
• Sting. The article names Sting as a duet partner on Possibilities. “A duet album called Possibilities was released in 2005. It featured duets with Carlos Santana , Paul Simon , Annie Lennox , John Mayer , Christina Aguilera , Sting , and others.” (Wikipedia)
• Terrace Martin. The article states that Martin is producing Hancock's next album. “Hancock's next album is being produced by Terrace Martin , [ 45 ] and will feature a broad variety of jazz and hip-hop artists” (Wikipedia)
• University of California, Los Angeles. The article states that Hancock joined UCLA's faculty as a jazz professor. “In 2013, Hancock joined the University of California, Los Angeles faculty as a professor in the UCLA music department teaching jazz music.” (Wikipedia)
• Harvard University. The article identifies Hancock's professorship at Harvard. “He was the 2014 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University .” (Wikipedia)
• Robert Springett. The page explicitly describes a partnership between Hancock and Springett. “Herbie Hancock 's partnership with Robert Springett and other visual artists, while developing his use of synthesizers.” (Wikipedia)
• Victor Moscoso. Moscoso is named among the artists involved with Hancock’s record covers. “His record covers were a very important element in this aesthetic, involving artists such as Robert Springett, Victor Moscoso and Nobuyuki Nakanishi.” (Wikipedia)
• Nobuyuki Nakanishi. Nakanishi is named among the artists involved with Hancock’s record covers. “His record covers were a very important element in this aesthetic, involving artists such as Robert Springett, Victor Moscoso and Nobuyuki Nakanishi.” (Wikipedia)
• George Gershwin. Hancock describes how his album reworks Gershwin compositions. (via Gershwin’s World) “On this record we worked very hard to personalize the Gershwin material while staying true to the spirit of jazz. Anyone can play the straight Gershwin tunes.” (Herbie Hancock)
• At the Pershing: But Not for Me by Ahmad Jamal (1958). At the Pershing: But Not for Me (Ahmad Jamal) — geography for Herbie Hancock “Spellman of the National Endowment of the Arts said: "Nobody except Thelonious Monk used space better, and nobody ever applied the artistic device of tension and release better." These (at the time) unconventional techniques that Jamal g…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Levels and Degrees of Light by Muhal Richard Abrams (1968). Levels and Degrees of Light (Muhal Richard Abrams) — geography for Herbie Hancock (musicbrainz.org)
• Jazz in Silhouette by Sun Ra (1959). Jazz in Silhouette (Sun Ra) — geography for Herbie Hancock

Who Herbie Hancock influenced

• Black Radio by Robert Glasper Experiment (2012). Black Radio (Robert Glasper Experiment) — legacy for Herbie Hancock “Outside of his own musical work, he has co-written or produced albums for Mac Miller, Anderson .Paak, The Kid Laroi, Banks, Herbie Hancock, Big K.R.I.T., Brittany Howard, Bilal, Denzel Curry, Q-Tip, and Talib Kweli, among others.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Cosmogramma by Flying Lotus (2010). Cosmogramma (Flying Lotus) — legacy for Herbie Hancock “by Flying Lotus, released in October 2014.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Drunk by Thundercat (2017). Drunk (Thundercat) — legacy for Herbie Hancock “Hancock's next album is being produced by Terrace Martin, and will feature a broad variety of jazz and hip-hop artists including Wayne Shorter, Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Lionel Loueke, Zakir Hussein, an…” (en.wikipedia.org)