Herbie Hancock

thumb|right|335 pxHerbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader and composer. Starting his career with jazz legend Clark Terry, he shortly thereafter joined Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet where Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound. He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers and funk music (characterized by syncopated drum beats). Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success among pop audiences. His music embraces elements of funk and soulwhile adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz. In his jazz improvisation, he possesses a unique creative blend of jazz, blues, and modern classical music, with harmonic stylings much like the styles of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.
== Tossup Questions ==
# This man collaborated with Gambian kora player Foday Musa Suso on Jazz Africa. He briefly took the Swahili name "Mwandishi," which sometimes refers to a set of three albums that also includes Crossings and Sextant. This man's quintet V.S.O.P. reunited him with Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter, with Freddie Hubbard filling in for a by-then deceased Miles Davis. He won an Academy Award for his score to 'Round Midnight and also wrote the score for Blow-Up. His solo debut album, Takin' Off, features the song "Watermelon Man." For 10 points, name this keyboard player equally adept at post-bop and jazz fusion styles, whose funk-inspired 1973 album Headhunters became the best-selling jazz album of all time.
# Such tracks as "Tell Me a Bedtime Story" and "Jessica" join the title track on this artist's album Fat Albert Rotunda. This musician used the unusual combination of alto flute, flugelhorn, and bass trombone on the title track of his album Speak Like a Child. Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and this man formed the V.S.O.P. Quintet. The track "One Finger Snap" appeared on his album Empyrean Isles, and he composed the score to Antonioni's film Blow-Up. Bernie Maupin began collaborating with him on the album Mwandishi, and later joined his jazz-funk/fusion band, The Head Hunters. He used almost exclusively suspended fourth chords for the title track of an album that also features the tracks "The Eye of the Hurricane" and "Dolphin Dance," entitled Maiden Voyage. For 10 points, name this pianist of such standards as "Cantaloupe Island," "Chameleon," and "Watermelon Man."
# This man played the Fender Rhodes piano on his song "Actual Proof", while another song by this man has him play the bass line on an Odyssey synthesizer. Jaco Pastorius played bass for "4 A.M.", which appears on one of his last electric albums, Mr. Hands, while he wrote a song that begins with Bill Summers playing the intro by blowing into a beer bottle. One of his more notable albums begins with "One Finger Snap" and this artist of (*) "Chameleon" portrayed the ocean with "Dolphin Dance" on perhaps his most famous album. One of his most recent works was the first jazz album to win the Grammy for Best Album since 1965, and this musician has written standards like "Watermelon Man" and "Cantaloupe Island". Besides that aforementioned tribute to Joni Mitchell, his other albums include Empyrean Isles and Head Hunters. For 10 points, identify this Jazz pianist of Maiden Voyage.
# Recent albums by this man include a collaboration with Michael Becker and Roy Hargrove entitled Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall, while a song in 15/4 time subtitled a "Suite for Angela" appears in one his earlier records. He featured tracks such as "Verushka" and "Bring Down the Birds" in a film soundtrack, while his most recent album was the second jazz album to win the Grammy for album of the year and is a tribute to Joni Mitchell entitled River. Besides creating Mwandishi, he played the organ on Miles Davis's Bitches Brew and composed the score for Antonioni's Blow-Up. This jazz artist collaborated with Bernie Maupin on "Chameleon" and wrote one of his standards for the album Taking Off, but later re-released it on Head Hunters before a Latin pop version of that song was popularized by Mongo Santamaria. For 10 points, identify this jazz pianist, who composed "Watermelon Man."