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Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. 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. In the 1970s, he experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro-funk, electro styles using a wide array of synthesizers and electronics. It was during this time that he released one of his best-known and most influential albums, ''Head Hunters''. Hancock's best-known compositions include "Cantaloupe Island", "Watermelon Man (composition), Watermelon Man", "Maiden Voyage (composition), Maiden Voyage", and "Chameleon (composition), Chameleon", all of which are jazz standards. During the 1980s, he had a hit single with the electronic instrumental "Rockit (song), Rockit", a collaboration with bassist/producer Bill Laswell. Hancock has won an Academy Awards, Ac ...
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Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of United States cities by population, third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. As the county seat, seat of Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called "Chicagoland" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a Chicago Portage, portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but ...
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Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, hymns, marches, vaudeville song, and dance music. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. However, jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, ...
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Jazz Standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive List of jazz standards (other), list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be standard (music), standards changes over time. Songs included in major fake book publications (lead sheet collections of popular tunes) and jazz reference works offer a rough guide to which songs are considered standards. Not all jazz standards were written by jazz composers. Many are originally Tin Pan Alley popular songs, Broadway theatre, Broadway show tunes or songs from Cinema of the United States, Hollywood musical film, musicals – the Great American Songbook. In Europe, jazz standards and "fake books" may even include some traditional folk songs (such as in Scandinavia) or pieces of a minority ethnic group's music (such as gypsy music ( ...
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Chameleon (composition)
"Chameleon" is a jazz fusion standard composed by Herbie Hancock with Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson and Harvey Mason, all of whom also performed the original 15:44 full-length version on the 1973 album ''Head Hunters'', and featuring solos by Hancock and Maupin. Background The song has a characteristic bass line and is set to a funk beat. For the most part, it is built entirely on a two-chord vamp: a i-IV in B Dorian (Bm7 and E7). The piece's signature 12-note bass line was played by Hancock on an ARP Odyssey, as was one of the keyboard solos. The other keyboard solo was played on a Rhodes piano. Chart performance Other recordings The piece is one of the most widely recognized jazz standards, and has become standard repertoire in many small jazz ensembles. It has been performed by various artists including: *Maceo Parker * Buddy Rich * Stanley Jordan * Big Sam's Funky Nation *Maynard Ferguson * Eddie Jefferson *Gov't Mule * Jazz Warriors *Monty Alexander with Sly Dunbar & R ...
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Maiden Voyage (composition)
"Maiden Voyage" is a jazz composition by Herbie Hancock from his 1965 album ''Maiden Voyage (Herbie Hancock album), Maiden Voyage''. It features Hancock's quartet – trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams (drummer), Tony Williams – together with saxophonist George Coleman. It is one of Hancock's best-known compositions and has become a jazz standard. The piece was used in a Yardley London, Yardley commercial and was originally listed on the album's master tape as "TV Jingle" until a friend of Hancock's sister came up with the new name. In the liner notes for the ''Maiden Voyage'' album, Hancock states that the composition was an attempt to capture "the splendor of a sea-going vessel on its maiden voyage". Interviewed for KCET TV in 2011, Hancock said he considered Maiden Voyage to be his favorite of all of the compositions he had written. Harmonic Structure A modal jazz piece, the composition follows a 32-bar Thirty-two-bar form, AABA for ...
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Watermelon Man (composition)
"Watermelon Man" is a jazz standard written by Herbie Hancock for his debut album, '' Takin' Off'' (1962). Hancock's first version was recorded in a hard bop style, featuring solos by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and saxophonist Dexter Gordon. A single release reached the Top 100 of the ''Billboard'' pop charts. Afro-Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaría subsequently released a version which became a surprise hit, reaching No. 10 on the pop chart.Strong, Martin Charles (2004). ''The Great Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track''. Canongate. pp. 652–653. Santamaría's recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. Hancock later recorded a funk version of "Watermelon Man" for the album ''Head Hunters'' (1973).Brackett, Nathan (2004). ''The New Rolling Stone Album Guide''. Simon & Schuster. p. 361. 1963 Herbie Hancock version Hancock wrote the piece to help sell his debut album as a leader, '' Takin' Off'' (1962), on Blue Note Records; it was t ...
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Cantaloupe Island
"Cantaloupe Island" is a jazz standard composed by Herbie Hancock and recorded for his 1964 album ''Empyrean Isles'' during his early years as one of the members of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet. Hancock later recorded a version mixing reggae and jazz fusion of the track, as Cantelope Island, on his 1976 album ''Secrets''. Musicians The musicians for the original 1964 recording were: Hancock (piano), Freddie Hubbard (cornet), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums). The 1976 recording featured Bennie Maupin (saxophone), Wah Wah Watson (guitar), Paul Jackson (bass), and James Levi (drums). Samples The jazz rap group Us3 sampled "Cantaloupe Island" in their song " Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)", from their album '' Hand On the Torch'' (1993). "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" was recorded as a demo a year before the group's first release. In the US, "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" reached No. 21 on the R&B Single Sales chart No. 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the group's on ...
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Head Hunters
''Head Hunters'' is the twelfth studio album by American pianist, keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock, released October 26, 1973, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the evening at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur, Different Fur Trading Co. in San Francisco, California. The album was a commercial and artistic breakthrough for Hancock, crossing over to funk and rock music, rock audiences and bringing jazz-funk jazz fusion, fusion to mainstream attention, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200. Hancock is featured with woodwind player Bennie Maupin from his previous sextet and new collaborators – bassist Paul Jackson (bassist), Paul Jackson, percussionist Bill Summers (musician), Bill Summers and drummer Harvey Mason. The latter group of collaborators, which would go on to be known as the Headhunters, also played on Hancock's subsequent studio album ''Thrust (album), Thrust'' (1974). All of the musicians (with the ...
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Synthesizers
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI. Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century with instruments such as the RCA Mark II, which was controlled with punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The Moog synthesizer, developed by Robert Moog and first sold in 19 ...
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Electro-funk
Electro (also known as electro-funk, and sometimes referred to as electro-pop)
Globaldarkness.com. Retrieved on July 18, 2011.
is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1980s. It is defined by the prominent use of the Roland TR-808 drum machine, and draws direct influence from early hip hop and funk music. Electro music is typically characterized by synthetic beats, robotic textures, and minimal or electronically processed vocals—often delivered through vocoders or talkboxes. Unlike its boogie predecessor, which emphasized vocal elements, electro focused more on rhythm and machine-generated sound. The genre arose as the popularity of disco waned in the U.S., blending funk and early hip hop elements with influences from New York's boogie scene and electronic pop ...
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Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the mid-20th century. It deemphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. It uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, and dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths. Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with a heavy emphasis on the first be ...
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Rhythm Section
A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm section is often contrasted with the roles of other musicians in the band, such as the lead guitarist or lead vocals whose primary job is to carry the melody. The core elements of the rhythm section are usually the drum kit and bass. The drums and bass provide the basic pulse and groove of a song. The section is augmented by other instruments such as keyboard instruments and guitars that are used to play the chord progression upon which the song is based. The bass instrument (either double bass, or electric bass guitar, or another low-register instrument such as the synth bass, depending on the group and its style of music) plays the low-pitched bassline. The bassline is a musical part that supports the chord progression, typically by p ...
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