Herbert Jeffrey Hancock is an Academy Award and Grammy award-winning American jazz pianist and composer. He embraces elements of rock and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz.

As part of Miles Davis's 'second great quintet', Hancock helped redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section, and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound. Later, he was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers and funk. Yet for all his restless experimentalism, Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success among pop audiences.