Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock is one of those artists who just radiates cool. And it's not just because he's a renowned jazz musician. Or wears hip eyeglasses. The Chicago-born prodigy plays jazz piano with the fearlessness that his mentor, Miles Davis, played trumpet. Innovative yet classically trained, Hancock approaches jazz in a completely individualist way, carving a path by his own rules. His jazz style embraces elements of funk, fusion, bop, rhythm and blues, gospel, and classical, and a self-professed love of technology and engineering flavors his music with a savvy edge. His mastery of the piano is indisputable; at the age of 11 he soloed in the first movement of a Mozart concerto with the Chicago Symphony. Adapting himself time and again to his own sense of exploration finds Hancock today in any number of places- playing an elegant set at a Manhattan jazz club, showing up for a surprise session at a late night hippie festival, or collaborating with techno-pop producers to create yet another album. The man knows no limits and almost 50 years of playing music has, if nothing else, endowed him with an undeniable quality of cool genius.