A biography for Herbie Hancockhasn’t been written yet.
“My father was really good with math. It's a funny thing, I don't remember my father or my mother being so mechanical-minded. My father always wanted to be a doctor, but he came from a really poor family in Georgia, and there was no way he was going to be a doctor.”
“Hip-hop is all over the planet.”
“I like to present something that the people haven't seen or haven't heard before. Otherwise they might as well just stay home and play the record.”
“Getting the Oscar had the biggest impression on me.”
“My first Grammy wasn't even in a jazz category, but of course I was really excited. 'Rockit' was the beginning of kind of a new era for the whole hip-hop movement.”
“Miles' sessions were not typical of anybody else's sessions. They were totally unique.”
“The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.”
“Forget about trying to compete with someone else. Create your own pathway. Create your own new vision.”
“See, there were certain rules I'd always used, and people like Trane, they would break those rules.”
“I think risk-taking is a great adventure. And life should be full of adventures.”
“The Internet opens up a whole new range of possibilities in a wide range of areas.”
“When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn't I couldn't do my best.”
“One of the most important functions of jazz has been to encourage a hope for freedom, for people living in situations of intolerance or struggle.”
“It is people's hearts that move the age.”
“When you talk about 'doing the work', that's the work I'm interested in. What can I contribute as a human being?”
“It's not easy to play in a framework that requires simplicity and to tastefully find ways to interject the kind of freedom that we have in playing jazz.”
“Creativity shouldn't be following radio; it should be the other way around.”
“I think there's a great beauty to having problems. That's one of the ways we learn.”
“I'm not special, no more special than anybody else.”
“I just express myself in any way I feel is appropriate at the moment.”