Chameleon
Bradypodion pumilum Cape chameleon female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Lacertilia
Infraorder:	Iguania
Family:	Chamaeleonidae
Subfamilies and Genera
Chamaeleoninae Archaius Bradypodion Calumma Chamaeleo Furcifer Kinyongia Nadzikambia Trioceros Brookesiinae Brookesia Rieppeleon Rhampholeon

Chameleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a prehensile tail, crests or horns on their distinctively shaped heads, and the ability of some to change color. Colors include pink, blue, red, orange, turquoise, yellow, and green. Uniquely adapted for climbing and visual hunting, the approximately 160 species of chameleon range from Africa, Madagascar, Spain and Portugal, across south Asia, to Sri Lanka, have been introduced to Hawaii, California and Florida, and are found in warm habitats that vary from rain forest to desert conditions. Chameleons are often kept as household pets.

Etymology[link]

The English word chameleon (also chamaeleon) derives from Latin chamaeleō, a borrowing of the Ancient Greek χαμαιλέων (khamailéōn), a compound of χαμαί (khamaí) "on the ground" and λέων (léōn) "lion". The Greek word is a calque translating the Akkadian nēš qaqqari, "ground lion".^[1]

Evolution[link]

The oldest known chameleon is Anqingosaurus brevicephalus from the Middle Paleocene (about 58.7-61.7 mya) of China.^[2]

Other chameleon fossils include Chamaeleo caroliquarti from the Lower Miocene (about 13-23 mya) of the Czech Republic and Germany, and Chamaeleo intermedius from the Upper Miocene (about 5-13 mya) of Kenya.^[2]

The chameleons are probably far older than that, perhaps sharing a common ancestor with iguanids and agamids more than 100 mya (agamids being more closely related). Since fossils have been found in Africa, Europe and Asia, chameleons were certainly once more widespread than they are today. Although nearly half of all chameleon species today are found in Madagascar, this offers no basis for speculation that chameleons might originate from there.^[3] Monophyly of the family is supported by several studies.^{[citation needed]}

Description[link]

Oustalet's Chameleon, Ambalavao, Madagascar

Bradypodion pumilum, the "Cape dwarf chameleon" in the act of defecation. The typical action by which it avoids fouling its own branch incidentally displays the difference between the arrangement of its fore and hind toes.

Chameleons vary greatly in size and body structure, with maximum total length varying from 15 millimetres (0.6 in) in male Brookesia micra (one of the world's smallest reptiles) to 68.5 centimetres (30 in) in the male Furcifer oustaleti.^[4][5] Many have head or facial ornamentation, such as nasal protrusions, or horn-like projections in the case of Trioceros jacksonii, or large crests on top of their head, like Chamaeleo calyptratus. Many species are sexually dimorphic, and males are typically much more ornamented than the female chameleons.

Typical sizes of species of chameleon commonly kept as pets are:

The feet of chameleons are highly adapted to arboreal locomotion, though species such as Chamaeleo namaquensis, that have secondarily adopted a terrestrial habit, have retained the same foot morphology with little modification. On each foot there are five clearly distinguished toes that are grouped into two fascicles. The toes in each fascicle are bound into a flattened group of either two three, giving each foot a tongs-like appearance. On the front feet the outer, lateral, group contains two toes, whereas the inner, medial, group contains three. On the rear feet this arrangement is reversed, the medial group containing two toes, and the lateral group three. These specialized feet allow chameleons to grip tightly onto narrow or rough branches. Furthermore, each toe is equipped with a sharp claw to afford a grip on surfaces such as bark when climbing. It is common to refer to the feet of chameleons as didactyl or zygodactyl, though neither term is fully satisfactory, both being used in describing totally different feet, such as the zygodactyl feet of parrots or didactyl feet of sloths or ostriches, none of which are significantly like chameleon feet. Although "zygodactyl" is reasonably descriptive of chameleon foot anatomy, their foot structure does not resemble that of parrots, to which the term was first applied. As for didactyly, chameleons visibly have five toes on each foot, not two.

Some chameleons have a crest of small spikes extending along the spine from the proximal part of the tail to the neck; both the extent and size of the spikes varies between species and individual. No generally convincing functional explanation for this feature has been proposed.

Senses[link]

Chameleons have the most distinctive eyes of any reptile. The upper and lower eyelids are joined, with only a pinhole large enough for the pupil to see through. They can rotate and focus separately to observe two different objects simultaneously, this lets their eyes move independently from each other. This gives them a full 360-degree arc of vision around their body. When prey is located, both eyes can be focused in the same direction, giving sharp stereoscopic vision and depth perception. Chameleons have very good eyesight for reptiles, letting them see small insects from a long (5–10 m) distance.^{[citation needed]}

Like snakes, chameleons do not have an outer or a middle ear, so there is neither an ear opening nor an eardrum.^[6]:31 However, chameleons are not deaf: they can detect sound frequencies in the range 200–600 Hz.^[6]:31

Tongue structure

Chameleons have very long tongues (sometimes longer than their own body length) which they are capable of rapidly extending out of the mouth. The tongue extends out faster than human eyes can follow, at around 26 body lengths per second. The tongue hits the prey in about 30 thousandths of a second.^[7] The tongue of the chameleon is a complex arrangement of bone, muscle and sinew. At the base of the tongue there is a bone and this is shot forward giving the tongue the initial momentum it needs to reach the prey quickly. At the tip of the elastic tongue there is a muscular, club-like structure covered in thick mucus that forms a suction cup.^[8] Once the tip sticks to a prey item, it is drawn quickly back into the mouth.

Chameleons can see in both visible and Ultraviolet light.^[9] Chameleons exposed to ultraviolet light show increased social behavior and activity levels, are more inclined to bask and feed and are also more likely to reproduce as it has a positive effect on the pineal gland.

Distribution and habitat[link]

The tiny, usually brown-colored Brookesia which include 33 different species of chameleons are mainly terrestrial

Chameleons are primarily found in the mainland of sub-Saharan Africa and on the island of Madagascar, although a few species are also found in northern Africa, southern Europe, the Middle East, southern India, Sri Lanka and several smaller islands in the western Indian Ocean. There are introduced, feral populations of veiled and Jackson's chameleons in Hawaii and isolated pockets of feral Jackson's chameleons have been reported in California and Florida.

Chameleons inhabit all kinds of tropical and mountain rain forests, savannas and sometimes deserts and steppes. The typical chameleons from the subfamily Chamaeleoninae are arboreal and usually found in trees or bushes, although a few (notably the Namaqua Chameleon) are partially or largely terrestrial. Most species from the subfamily Brookesiinae, which includes the genera Brookesia, Rieppeleon and Rhampholeon, live low in vegetation or on the ground among leaf litter. Many species of chameleon are threatened by extinction. Declining chameleon numbers are due to pollution and deforestation.^{[citation needed]}

Reproduction[link]

West Usambara Two-Horned Chameleon (Kinyongia multituberculata) in the Usambara mountains, Tanzania.

Chameleons are mostly oviparous, some being ovoviviparous.

The oviparous species lay eggs 3–6 weeks after copulation. The female will climb down to the ground and begin digging a hole, anywhere from 10–30 cm (4–12 in.) deep depending on the species. The female turns herself around at the bottom of the hole and deposits her eggs. Clutch sizes vary greatly with species. Small Brookesia species may only lay 2–4 eggs, while large Veiled Chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus) have been known to lay clutches of 80–100 eggs. Clutch sizes can also vary greatly among the same species. Eggs generally hatch after 4–12 months, again depending on species. The eggs of Parson's Chameleon (Calumma parsonii), a species which is rare in captivity, are believed to take upwards of 24 months to hatch.^{[citation needed]}

The ovoviviparous species, such as the Jackson's Chameleon (Trioceros jacksonii) have a 5–7 month gestation period. Each young chameleon is born within the sticky transparent membrane of its yolk sac. The mother presses each egg onto a branch, where it sticks. The membrane bursts and the newly born chameleon frees itself and climbs away to hunt for itself and hide from predators. The female can have up to 30 live young from one gestation.^[10]

Diet[link]

Chameleons generally eat insects, but larger species such as the Common Chameleon may also take other lizards and young birds.^[11]:5 The range of diets can be seen from the following examples:

• The Veiled Chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus from Arabia, is insectivorous, but eats leaves when other sources of water are not available. It can be maintained on a diet of Crickets. ^[12] They can eat as many as 15-50 large crickets a day.

• Jackson's Chameleon (Trioceros jacksonii) from Kenya and northern Tanzania eats a wide variety of small animals including ants, butterflies, caterpillars, snails, worms, lizards, geckos, amphibians and other chameleons, as well as plant material such as leaves, tender shoots, and berries. It can be maintained on a mixed diet including kale, dandelion leaves, lettuce, bananas, tomatoes, apples, crickets and waxworms.^[10]

• The Common Chameleon of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, Chamaeleo chamaeleon, mainly eats wasps and mantises; such arthropods form over three quarters of its diet.^[11]:5 Some experts advise that the Common Chameleon should not be fed exclusively on Crickets: these should make up no more than half the diet, with the rest a mixture of waxworms, earthworms, grasshoppers, flies and plant materials such as green leaves, oats and fruit.^[11]:5-6

• Temperature influence the amount of food eaten.

Change of color[link]

Camouflage of a Common Chameleon in its natural environment (vicinity of Oueslatia, Tunisia)

This Common Chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon) turned black

Some chameleon species are able to change their skin colors. Different chameleon species are able to change different colors which can include pink, blue, red, orange, green, black, brown, light blue, yellow, turquoise and purple.^[13]

The primary purpose of color change in chameleons is social signaling, with camouflage secondary. Color change signals a chameleon's physiological condition and intentions to other chameleons.^[14][15] Chameleons tend to show darker colors when angered, or attempting to scare or intimidate others, while males show lighter, multi-colored patterns when courting females.^{[citation needed]}

Some species, such as Smith's dwarf chameleon, adjust their colors for camouflage in accordance with the vision of the specific predator species (bird or snake) that they are being threatened by.^[16]

The desert dwelling Namaqua Chameleon also uses color change as an aid to thermoregulation, becoming black in the cooler morning to absorb heat more efficiently, then a lighter grey color to reflect light during the heat of the day. It may show both colors at the same time, neatly separated left from right by the spine.^{[citation needed]}

Mechanism of color change[link]

Chameleons have specialized cells, chromatophores, which contain pigments in their cytoplasm, in three layers below their transparent outer skin:

1. The cells in the upper layer, called xanthophores and erythrophores, contain yellow and red pigments respectively.
2. Below these is a second layer of cells called iridophores or guanophores; these contain guanine, appearing blue or white.
3. The deepest layer of cells, melanophores, contain the dark pigment melanin, controlling how much light is reflected.

Dispersion of the pigment granules in the chromatophores sets the intensity of each color. When the pigment is equally distributed in a chromatophore, the whole cell is intensively colored. When the pigment is located only in the centre of the cell, the cell appears mainly transparent. Chromatophores can rapidly relocate their particles of pigment, thereby influencing the animal's color. Chromatophores change because the cells get a message from the brain.^[17]

Video[link]

Classification[link]

Family Chamaeleonidae

• Subfamily Brookesiinae
• the Subfamily Chamaeleoninae

Parasites[link]

Chameleons are parasitised by nematode worms including threadworms (Filaria) and roundworms. Threadworms can be transmitted by biting insects such as ticks and mosquitoes. Roundworms are transmitted through food contaminated with roundworm eggs; the larvae burrow through the wall of the intestine into the bloodstream.^[18]

Chameleons are subject to several protozoan parasites such as Plasmodium which causes malaria, Trypanosoma which causes sleeping sickness, and Leishmania which causes leishmaniasis.^[19]

Chameleons are subject to parasitism by coccidia,^[19] including species of the genera Choleoeimeria, Eimeria and Isospora.^[20]

Bibliography[link]

Popular books[link]

• François Le Berre and Richard D. Bartlett. The Chameleon Handbook. Barron's Educational Series. 3rd Edition, 2009.
• Linda J. Davison. Chameleons: Their Care and Breeding. Hancock House Publishers, 1997.
• Philippe de Vosjoli. Essential Care of Chameleons. Advanced Vivarium Systems, 2004.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chamaeleonidae

Wikispecies has information related to: Chamaeleonidae

Herbie Hancock
Hancock in concert at the Nice Jazz Festival 2010
Background information
Birth name	Herbert Jeffrey Hancock
Also known as	Herbie Hancock
Born	(1940-04-12) April 12, 1940 (age 72) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres	Jazz, bebop, post bop, jazz fusion, hard bop, jazz-funk, funk, R&B, electro funk, classical
Occupations	Musician, composer, bandleader
Instruments	Piano, synthesizer, organ, clavinet, keytar, vocoder
Years active	1961–present
Labels	Columbia, Blue Note, Verve, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Miles Davis Quintet, Jaco Pastorius, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder
Website	www.herbiehancock.com

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader and composer.^[1] As part of Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, 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 music 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 soul while 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.

Hancock's best-known solo works include "Cantaloupe Island", "Watermelon Man" (later performed by dozens of musicians, including bandleader Mongo Santamaría), "Maiden Voyage", "Chameleon", and the singles "I Thought It Was You" and "Rockit". His 2007 tribute album River: The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, only the second jazz album ever to win the award after Getz/Gilberto in 1965.

Hancock is a member of Sōka Gakkai International.^[2][3]

On July 22, 2011 at a ceremony in Paris, Hancock was named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of Intercultural Dialogue.

Early life and career[link]

Hancock was born in Chicago, Illinois. Like many jazz pianists, Hancock started with a classical music education. He studied from age seven, and his talent was recognized early. Considered a child prodigy,^[4] he played the first movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 5 at a young people's concert with the Chicago Symphony at age eleven.^[5]

Through his teens, Hancock never had a jazz teacher, but developed his ear and sense of harmony. He was also influenced by records of the vocal group the Hi-Lo's. He reported that:

the time I actually heard the Hi-Lo's, I started picking that stuff out; my ear was happening. I could hear stuff and that's when I really learned some much farther-out voicings -like the harmonies I used on 'Speak Like a Child' -just being able to do that. I really got that from Clare Fischer's arrangements for the Hi-Lo's. Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept... He and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it came from.^[6]

In 1960, he heard Chris Anderson play just once, and begged him to accept him as a student.^[7] Hancock often mentions Anderson as his harmonic guru. Hancock left Grinnell College, moved to Chicago and began working with Donald Byrd and Coleman Hawkins, during which period he also took courses at Roosevelt University. (He later graduated from Grinnell with degrees in electrical engineering and music. Grinnell also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1972).^[5][8] Donald Byrd was attending the Manhattan School of Music in New York at the time and suggested that Hancock study composition with Vittorio Giannini, which he did for a short time in 1960. The pianist quickly earned a reputation, and played subsequent sessions with Oliver Nelson and Phil Woods. He recorded his first solo album Takin' Off for Blue Note Records in 1962. "Watermelon Man" (from Takin' Off) was to provide Mongo Santamaría with a hit single, but more importantly for Hancock, Takin' Off caught the attention of Miles Davis, who was at that time assembling a new band. Hancock was introduced to Davis by the young drummer Tony Williams, a member of the new band.

Miles Davis quintet and Blue Note[link]

Hancock received considerable attention when, in May 1963,^[5] he joined Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet. Davis personally sought out Hancock, whom he saw as one of the most promising talents in jazz. The rhythm section Davis organized was young but effective, comprising bassist Ron Carter, 17-year-old drummer Tony Williams, and Hancock on piano. After George Coleman and Sam Rivers each took a turn at the saxophone spot, the quintet would gel with Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone. This quintet is often regarded as one of the finest jazz ensembles, and the rhythm section has been especially praised for its innovation and flexibility.

The second great quintet was where Hancock found his own voice as a pianist. Not only did he find new ways to use common chords, but he also popularized chords that had not previously been used in jazz. Hancock also developed a unique taste for "orchestral" accompaniment – using quartal harmony and Debussy-like harmonies, with stark contrasts then unheard of in jazz. With Williams and Carter he wove a labyrinth of rhythmic intricacy on, around and over existing melodic and chordal schemes. In the later half of the sixties their approach became so sophisticated and unorthodox that conventional chord changes would hardly be discernible; hence their improvisational concept would become known as "Time, No Changes". 

While in Davis's band, Hancock also found time to record dozens of sessions for the Blue Note label, both under his own name and as a sideman with other musicians such as Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Grant Green, Bobby Hutcherson, Sam Rivers, Donald Byrd, Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard.

His albums Empyrean Isles (1964) and Maiden Voyage (1965) were to be two of the most famous and influential jazz LPs of the sixties, winning praise for both their innovation and accessibility (the latter demonstrated by the subsequent enormous popularity of the Maiden Voyage title track as a jazz standard, and by the jazz rap group US3 having a hit single with "Cantaloop" (derived from "Cantaloupe Island" on Empyrean Isles) some twenty five years later). Empyrean Isles featured the Davis rhythm section of Hancock, Carter and Williams with the addition of Freddie Hubbard on cornet, while Maiden Voyage also added former Davis saxophonist George Coleman (with Hubbard remaining on trumpet). Both albums are regarded as among the principal foundations of the post-bop style. Hancock also recorded several less-well-known but still critically acclaimed albums with larger ensembles – My Point of View (1963), Speak Like a Child (1968) and The Prisoner (1969) featured flugelhorn, alto flute and bass trombone. 1963's Inventions and Dimensions was an album of almost entirely improvised music, teaming Hancock with bassist Paul Chambers and two Latin percussionists, Willie Bobo and Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez.

During this period, Hancock also composed the score to Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blowup, the first of many soundtracks he recorded in his career.

Davis had begun incorporating elements of rock and popular music into his recordings by the end of Hancock's tenure with the band. Despite some initial reluctance, Hancock began doubling on electric keyboards including the Fender Rhodes electric piano at Davis's insistence. Hancock adapted quickly to the new instruments, which proved to be instrumental in his future artistic endeavors.

Under the pretext that he had returned late from a honeymoon in Brazil, Hancock was dismissed from Davis's band. In the summer of 1968 Hancock formed his own sextet. However, although Davis soon disbanded his quintet to search for a new sound, Hancock, despite his departure from the working band, continued to appear on Miles Davis records for the next few years. Noteworthy appearances include In a Silent Way, A Tribute to Jack Johnson and On the Corner.

[edit] Fat Albert and Mwandishi

Hancock playing a Roland AX-7 keytar, at The Roundhouse, Camden, London, 2006

Hancock left Blue Note in 1969, signing up with Warner Bros. Records. In 1969, Hancock composed the soundtrack for the Bill Cosby animated children's television show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Titled Fat Albert Rotunda, the album was mainly an R&B-influenced album with strong jazz overtones. One of the jazzier songs on the record, "Tell Me A Bedtime Story", was later re-worked as a more electronic sounding song for the Quincy Jones album, Sounds...and Stuff Like That.

Hancock became fascinated with accumulating musical gadgets and toys. Together with the profound influence of Davis's Bitches Brew, this fascination would culminate in a series of albums in which electronic instruments are coupled with acoustic instruments.

Hancock's first ventures into electronic music started with a sextet comprising Hancock, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Billy Hart, and a trio of horn players: Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Julian Priester (trombone), and multireedist Bennie Maupin. Dr. Patrick Gleeson was eventually added to the mix to play and program the synthesizers. In fact, Hancock was one of the first jazz pianists to completely embrace electronic keyboards.^{[citation needed]}

The sextet, later a septet with the addition of Gleeson, made three experimental albums under Hancock's name: Mwandishi (1971), Crossings (1972) (both on Warner Bros. Records), and Sextant (1973) (released on Columbia Records); two more, Realization and Inside Out, were recorded under Henderson's name with essentially the same personnel. The music often had very free improvisations and showed influence from the electronic music of some contemporary classical composers.

Synthesizer player Patrick Gleeson, one of the first musicians to play synthesizer on any jazz recording, introduced the instrument on Crossings, released in 1972, one of a handful of influential electronic jazz/fusion recordings to feature synthesizer that same year. On Crossings (as well as on I Sing the Body Electric), the synthesizer is used more as an improvisatory global orchestration device than as a strictly melodic instrument. This reflected Gleeson's (and Powell's) interest in contemporary European electronic music techniques and in the West Coast synthesis techniques of Morton Subotnick and other contemporaries, several of whom were resident at one time or another, as was Gleeson, at The Mills College Tape Music Center. An early review of Crossings in Downbeat magazine complained about the synthesizer, but a few years later the magazine noted in a cover story on Gleeson that he was "a pioneer" in the field of electronics in jazz. Gleeson used a modular Moog III for the recording of the album, but used an ARP 2600 synthesizer, and occasionally an ARP Soloist for the group's live performances. On Sextant Gleeson used the more compact ARP synthesizers instead of the larger Moog III for both studio and live performances. In the albums following The Crossings, Hancock started to play synth himself and unlike Gleeson, he plays it as a melodical and rhythm instrument just like electric pianos.

Hancock's three records released in 1971–1973, became later known as the "Mwandishi" albums, so-called after a Swahili name Hancock sometimes used during this era (Mwandishi is Swahili for writer). The first two, including Fat Albert Rotunda were made available on the 2-CD set Mwandishi: the Complete Warner Bros. Recordings, released in 1994, but are now sold as individual CD editions. Of the three electronic albums, Sextant is probably the most experimental since the Arp synthesizers are used extensively, and some advanced improvisation ("post-modal free impressionism") is found on the tracks "Hornets" and "Hidden Shadows" (which is in the meter 19/4). "Hornets" was later revised on the 2001 album Future2Future as "Virtual Hornets".

Among the instruments Hancock and Gleeson used were Fender Rhodes piano, ARP Odyssey, ARP 2600, ARP Pro Soloist Synthesizer, a Mellotron and the Moog synthesizer III.

All three Warner Bros. albums Fat Albert Rotunda, Mwandishi, and Crossings, were remastered in 2001 and released in Europe but were not released in the U.S.A. as of June 2005. In the Winter of 2006–7 a remastered edition of Crossings was announced and scheduled for release in the Spring.

[edit] Headhunters and Death Wish

Hancock performing in concert, 2006

After the sometimes "airy" and decidedly experimental "Mwandishi" albums, Hancock was eager to perform more "earthy" and "funky" music. The Mwandishi albums – though these days seen as respected early fusion recordings – had seen mixed reviews and poor sales, so it is probable that Hancock was motivated by financial concerns as well as artistic restlessness.^{[citation needed]} Hancock was also bothered by the fact that many people did not understand avant-garde music. He explained that he loved funk music, especially Sly Stone's music, so he wanted to try to make funk himself.

He gathered a new band, which he called The Headhunters, keeping only Maupin from the sextet and adding bassist Paul Jackson, percussionist Bill Summers, and drummer Harvey Mason. The album Head Hunters, released in 1973, was a major hit and crossed over to pop audiences, though it prompted criticism from some jazz fans. Head Hunters was recorded at Different Fur studios.

Despite charges of "selling out", Stephen Erlewine of Allmusic positively reviewed the album among other friendly critics, saying, "Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital three decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, soul, and hip-hop."^[9]

Mason was replaced by Mike Clark, and the band released a second album, Thrust, the following year. (A live album from a Japan performance, consisting of compositions from those first two Head Hunters releases was released in 1975 as Flood. The record has since been released on CD in Japan.) This was almost as well received as its predecessor, if not attaining the same level of commercial success. The Headhunters made another successful album (called Survival of the Fittest) without Hancock, while Hancock himself started to make even more commercial albums, often featuring members of the band, but no longer billed as The Headhunters. The Headhunters reunited with Hancock in 1998 for Return of the Headhunters, and a version of the band (featuring Jackson and Clark) continues to play live and record.

In 1973, Hancock composed his second masterful soundtrack to the controversial film The Spook Who Sat By The Door. Then in 1974, he also composed the soundtrack to the first Death Wish film. One of his memorable songs, "Joanna's Theme", would later be re-recorded in 1997 on his duet album with Wayne Shorter 1 + 1.

Hancock's next jazz-funk albums of the 1970s were Man-Child (1975), and Secrets (1976), which point toward the more commercial direction Hancock would take over the next decade. These albums feature the members of the 'Headhunters' band, but also a variety of other musicians in important roles.

[edit] Back to the basics: VSOP and Future Shock

During late 1970s and early 1980s, Hancock toured with his "V.S.O.P." quintet, which featured all the members of the 1960s Miles Davis quintet except Davis, who was replaced by trumpet giant Freddie Hubbard. There was constant speculation that one day Davis would reunite with his classic band, but he never did so. VSOP recorded several live albums in the late 1970s, including VSOP (1976), and VSOP: The Quintet (1977).

In 1978, Hancock recorded a duet with Chick Corea, who had replaced him in the Miles Davis band a decade earlier. He also released a solo acoustic piano album titled The Piano (1978), which, like so many Hancock albums at the time, was initially released only in Japan. (It was finally released in the US in 2004.) Several other Japan-only releases have yet to surface in the US, such as Dedication (1974), VSOP: Tempest in the Colosseum (1977), and Direct Step (1978). Live Under the Sky was a VSOP album remastered for the US in 2004, and included an entire second concert from the July 1979 tour.

From 1978–1982, Hancock recorded many albums consisting of jazz-inflected disco and pop music, beginning with Sunlight (featuring guest musicians including Tony Williams and Jaco Pastorius on the last track) (1978). Singing through a vocoder, he earned a British hit,^[10] "I Thought It Was You", although critics were unimpressed.^[11] This led to more vocoder on the 1979 follow-up, Feets, Don't Fail Me Now, which gave him another UK hit in "You Bet Your Love".^[10] Albums such as Monster (1980), Magic Windows (1981), and Lite Me Up (1982) were some of Hancock's most criticized and unwelcomed albums, the market at the time being somewhat saturated with similar pop-jazz hybrids from the likes of former bandmate Freddie Hubbard. Hancock himself had quite a limited role in some of those albums, leaving singing, composing and even producing to others. Mr. Hands (1980) is perhaps the one album during this period that was critically acclaimed. To the delight of many fans, there were no vocals on the album, and one track featured Jaco Pastorius on bass. The album contained a wide variety of different styles, including a disco instrumental song, a Latin-jazz number and an electronic piece in which Hancock plays alone with the help of computers.

Hancock also found time to record more traditional jazz while creating more commercially oriented music. He toured with Tony Williams and Ron Carter in 1981, recording Herbie Hancock Trio, a five-track live album released only in Japan. A month later, he recorded Quartet with Wynton Marsalis, released in the US the following year. Hancock, Williams and Carter toured internationally with Wynton and his brother Branford Marsalis in what was affectionately known as "VSOP II". This quintet can be heard on Marsalis' debut album on Columbia (1981). In 1982 he contributed to the Simple Minds album New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84), playing a synthesizer solo on the track "Hunter and The Hunted".

In 1983, Hancock had a mainstream hit with the Grammy-award winning instrumental single "Rockit" from the album Future Shock. It was perhaps the first mainstream single to feature scratching, and also featured an innovative animated music video which was directed by Godley and Creme and showed several robot-like artworks by Jim Whiting. The video was a hit on MTV and reached No.8 in the UK.^[12] The video won five different categories at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards. This single ushered in a collaboration with noted bassist and producer Bill Laswell. Hancock experimented with electronic music on a string of three LPs produced by Laswell: Future Shock (1983), Sound-System (1984) and Perfect Machine (1988). Despite the success of "Rockit", Hancock's trio of Laswell-produced albums (particularly the latter two) are among the most critically derided of his entire career, perhaps even more so than his erstwhile pop-jazz experiments. Hancock's level of actual contribution to these albums was also questioned, with some critics contending that the Laswell albums should have been labelled "Bill Laswell featuring Herbie Hancock".

During this period, he appeared onstage at the Grammy awards with Stevie Wonder, Howard Jones, and Thomas Dolby, in a famous synthesizer jam (The video on Youtube can be found here.). Lesser known works from the 1980s are the live album Jazz Africa and the studio album Village Life (1984), which were recorded with Gambian kora player Foday Musa Suso.^[13] Also, in 1985 Hancock performed as a guest on the album So Red The Rose by the Duran Duran offshoot group Arcadia. He also provided introductory and closing comments for the PBS rebroadcast in the United States of the BBC educational series from the mid-1980s, Rockschool (not to be confused with the most recent Gene Simmons' Rock School series).

In 1986, Hancock performed and acted in the film 'Round Midnight. He also wrote the score/soundtrack, for which he won an Academy Award for Original Music Score. Often he would write music for TV commercials. "Maiden Voyage", in fact, started out as a cologne advertisement. At the end of the Perfect Machine tour, Hancock decided to leave Columbia Records after a 15-plus-year relationship.

As of June 2005, almost half of his Columbia recordings have been remastered. The first three US releases, Sextant, Head Hunters and Thrust as well as the last four releases Future Shock, Sound-System, the soundtrack to Round Midnight and Perfect Machine. Everything released in America from Man-Child to Quartet has yet to be remastered. Some albums, made and initially released in the US, were remastered between 1999 and 2001 in other countries such as Magic Windows and Monster. Hancock also re-released some of his Japan-only releases in the West, such as The Piano.

1990s and later[link]

Hancock live in concert

After leaving Columbia, Hancock took a break. Then, with friends Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, and Davis admirer Wallace Roney, they recorded A Tribute to Miles, which was released in 1994. The album contained two live recordings and studio recording classics, with Roney playing Davis's part as trumpet player. The album won a Grammy for best group album. He also toured with Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland and Pat Metheny in 1990 on their Parallel Realities tour, which included a memorable performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1990.

Hancock's next album, Dis Is Da Drum, released in 1994, saw him return to Acid Jazz. Also in 1994, he appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African-American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time Magazine.

1995's The New Standard found Hancock and an all-star band including John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette and Michael Brecker interpreting pop songs by Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Prince, Peter Gabriel and others. A 1997 duet album with Wayne Shorter entitled 1 + 1 was successful, the song "Aung San Suu Kyi" winning the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition. Hancock also achieved great success in 1998 with his album Gershwin's World, which featured inventive readings of George and Ira Gershwin standards by Hancock and a plethora of guest stars, including Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell and Shorter. Hancock toured the world in the support of Gershwin's World with a sextet that featured Cyro Baptista, Terri Lynne Carrington, Ira Coleman, Eli Degibri and Eddie Henderson.

In 2001, Hancock recorded Future2Future, which reunited Hancock with Bill Laswell and featured doses of electronica as well as turntablist Rob Swift of The X-Ecutioners. Hancock later toured with the band, and released a live concert DVD with a different lineup which also included the "Rockit" music video. Also in 2001, Hancock partnered with Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove to record a live concert album saluting Davis and John Coltrane entitled Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall, recorded live in Toronto. The threesome toured to support the album, and toured on and off through 2005.

The year 2005 saw the release of a duet album called Possibilities. It features duets with Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Sting and others. In 2006, Possibilities was nominated for Grammy awards in two categories: "A Song For You", featuring Christina Aguilera was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and "Gelo No Montanha", featuring Trey Anastasio on guitar, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Performance. Neither nomination resulted in an award.

Also in 2005, Hancock toured Europe with a new quartet that included Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke, and explored textures ranging from ambient to straight jazz to African music. Plus, during the summer of 2005, Hancock re-staffed the famous Headhunters and went on tour with them, including a performance at The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.

However, this lineup did not consist of any of the original Headhunters musicians. The group included Marcus Miller, Terri Lyne Carrington, Lionel Loueke and John Mayer. Hancock also served as the first artist in residence for Bonnaroo that summer.

Also in 2006, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (which bought out Hancock's old label, Columbia Records) released the two-disc retrospective The Essential Herbie Hancock. This two-disc set is the first compilation of Herbie's work at Warner Bros. Records, Blue Note Records, Columbia and at Verve/Polygram. This became Hancock's second major compilation of work since the 2002 Columbia-onlyThe Herbie Hancock Box, which was released at first in a plastic 4x4 cube then re-released in 2004 in a long box set. Hancock also in 2006, recorded a new song with Josh Groban and Eric Mouquet (co-founder of Deep Forest) entitled "Machine". It is featured on Josh Groban's CD Awake. Hancock also recorded and improvised with guitarist Lionel Loueke on Loueke's debut album Virgin Forest on the ObliqSound label in 2006, resulting in two improvisational tracks "Le Réveil des Agneaux (The Awakening of the Lambs)" and "La Poursuite du lion (The Lion's Pursuit)".

Hancock, a longtime associate and friend of Joni Mitchell released a 2007 album, River: The Joni Letters, that paid tribute to her work. Norah Jones and Tina Turner recorded vocals,^[14] as did Corinne Bailey Rae, and Leonard Cohen contributed a spoken piece set to Hancock's piano. Mitchell herself also made an appearance. The album was released on September 25, simultaneously with the release of Mitchell's album Shine.^[15] "River" was nominated for and won the 2008 Album of the Year Grammy Award, only the second jazz album ever to receive either honor. The album also won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, and the song "Both Sides Now" was nominated for Best Instrumental Jazz Solo.

Recently Hancock performed at the Shriner's Children's Hospital Charity Fundraiser with Sheila E, Jim Brickman, Kirk Whalum and Wendy Alane Wright.

His latest work includes assisting the production of the Kanye West track "RoboCop", found on 808s & Heartbreak.

On June 14, 2008, Hancock performed at Rhythm on the Vine at the South Coast Winery in Temecula, California, for Shriners Hospital for Children. Other performers at the event, that raised $515,000 for Shriners Hospital, were contemporary music artist Jim Brickman, and Sheila E. & the E. Family Band.^[16]

On January 18, 2009, Hancock performed at the We Are One concert, marking the start of inaugural celebrations for American President Barack Obama.^[17] Hancock also performed the Rhapsody in Blue at the 2009 Classical BRIT Awards with classical pianist Lang Lang. Hancock was named as the Los Angeles Philharmonic's creative chair for jazz for 2010–12.^[18] In June 2010, Hancock released his newest album, The Imagine Project.

On June 5, 2010, Hancock received an Alumni Award from his alma mater, Grinnell College.^[19]

Discography[link]

Filmography[link]

As a Leader[link]

• 2000: Dejohnette, Hancock, Holland and Metheny – Live in Concert
• 2002: Herbie Hancock Trio: Hurricane! with Ron Carter and Billy Cobham^[20]
• 2002: The Jazz Channel Presents Herbie Hancock (BET on Jazz) with Cyro Baptista, Terri Lynne Carrington, Ira Coleman, Eli Degibri and Eddie Henderson (recorded in 2000)
• 2004: Herbie Hancock – Future2Future Live
• 2006: Herbie Hancock – Possibilities with John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Joss Stone, and more

Awards[link]

Academy Awards[link]

• 1986, Original Soundtrack, for Round Midnight

Grammy Awards[link]

1. 1984, Best R&B Instrumental Performance, for Rockit
2. 1985, Best R&B Instrumental Performance, for Sound-System
3. 1988, Best Instrumental Composition, for Call Sheet Blues
4. 1995, Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual Or Group, for A Tribute to Miles
5. 1997, Best Instrumental Composition, for Manhattan (Island Of Lights And Love)
6. 1999, Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s), for St. Louis Blues
7. 1999, Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual Or Group, for Gershwin's World
8. 2003, Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group, for Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall
9. 2003, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, for My Ship
10. 2005, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, for Speak Like a Child
11. 2008, Album of the Year, for River: The Joni Letters
12. 2008, Best Contemporary Jazz Album, for River: The Joni Letters
13. 2011, Best Improvised Jazz Solo, for A Change Is Gonna Come
14. 2011, Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, for Imagine

Playboy Music Poll[link]

• Best Jazz Group, 1985
• Best Jazz Keyboards, 1985
• Best Jazz Album – Rockit, 1985
• Best Jazz Keyboards, 1986
• Best R&B Instrumentalist, 1987
• Best Jazz Instrumentalist, 1988

Keyboard Magazine's Readers Poll[link]

• Best Jazz & Pop Keyboardist, 1983
• Best Jazz Pianist, 1987
• Best Jazz Keyboardist, 1987
• Best Jazz Pianist, 1988

Other notable awards[link]

• MTV Awards (5 awards in total) – Best Concept Video – Rockit, 1983–84
• Gold Note Jazz Awards – NY Chapter of the National Black MBA Association, 1985
• French Award Officer of the Order of Arts & Letters - Paris, 1985
• BMI Film Music Award Round Midnight, 1986
• U.S. Radio Award "Best Original Music Scoring – Thom McAnn Shoes", 1986
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association "Best Score – Round Midnight", 1986
• BMI Film Music Award Colors, 1989
• Miles Davis Award, granted by the Montreal International Jazz Festival, 1997
• Soul Train Music Award "Best Jazz Album – The New Standard", 1997
• Festival International Jazz de Montreal Prix Miles Davis, 1997
• VH1's 100 Greatest Videos Rockit is "10th Greatest Video", 2001
• NEA Jazz Masters Award, 2004
• Downbeat Magazine Readers Poll Hall of Fame, 2005

^[21]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of Herbie Hancock
• Official Herbie Hancock MySpace page
• Herbie Hancock at Verve Records
• River:The Joni Letters at Verve Records
• Possibilities Herbie Hancock
• Discography Herbie Hancock Discography
• Interview with Herbie Hancock on music and technology from AppleMatters
• Interview with Herbie Hancock on the "Possibilities" album release from LiveDaily
• Herbie Hancock: Outside The Comfort Zone Herbie Hancock interview from JamBase
• "Herbie Hancock: Essential Recordings" by Ted Gioia (www.jazz.com)
• Herbie Hancock's Grinnell College Alumni Award citation from Grinnell College Alumni Assembly on June 5, 2010.

Maynard Ferguson
Background information
Birth name	Walter Maynard Ferguson
Born	(1928-05-04)May 4, 1928
Origin	Verdun, Quebec, Canada
Died	August 23, 2006(2006-08-23) (aged 78)
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Bandleader, trumpeter
Instruments	Trumpet, flugelhorn, soprano saxophone, baritone horn
Years active	1939–2006
Associated acts	Big Bop Nouveau, Stan Kenton Orchestra
Website	maynardferguson.com
Notable instruments
Superbone, Firebird

Walter Maynard Ferguson (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957. He was noted for being able to play accurately in a remarkably high register, and for his bands, which served as stepping stones for up-and-coming talent.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life and education[link]

Ferguson was born in Verdun, Quebec (now part of Montreal). Encouraged by his mother and father (both musicians), Maynard was playing piano and violin by the age of four. Newsreel footage exists of Ferguson as a child prodigy violinist. At nine years old, he heard a cornet for the first time in his local church and asked his parents to purchase one for him. At age thirteen, Ferguson first soloed as a child prodigy with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra and was heard frequently on the CBC, notably featured on a "Serenade for Trumpet in Jazz" written for him by Morris Davis. Ferguson won a scholarship to the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he studied from 1943 through 1948 with Bernard Baker.

Ferguson dropped out of Montreal High School at age 15 to more actively pursue a music career, performing in dance bands led by Stan Wood, Roland David, and Johnny Holmes. While trumpet was his primary instrument, Ferguson also performed on other brass and reed instruments. Ferguson later took over the dance band formed by his saxophonist brother Percy, playing dates in the Montreal area and serving as an opening act for touring bands from Canada and the USA. During this period, Ferguson came to the attention of numerous American band leaders and began receiving offers to come to the United States.

Ferguson finally moved to the United States in 1948^[1] intending to join Stan Kenton's organization. But Kenton had just disbanded his orchestra, so Ferguson initially played with the bands of Boyd Raeburn, Jimmy Dorsey, and Charlie Barnet. The Barnet band was notable for a trumpet section that also included Doc Severinsen, Ray Wetzel, Johnny Howell, and Rolf Ericson. Ferguson was featured on a notoriously flamboyant Barnet recording of Jerome Kern's "All The Things You Are" that showcased Ferguson's upper register playing. The recording reportedly enraged Kern's widow and was subsequently withdrawn from sale. When Barnet temporarily retired in 1949 and disbanded his orchestra, Ferguson was free to accept an offer to join Stan Kenton's newly formed Innovations Orchestra.

Kenton and Hollywood[link]

Stan Kenton's bands were notable for their strong brass sections and Ferguson was a natural fit. In 1950, Kenton formed the Innovations Orchestra, a 40-piece jazz concert orchestra with strings, and with the folding of the Barnet band, Ferguson was available for the first rehearsal on January 1, 1950. While the Innovations Orchestra was not commercially successful, it made a number of remarkable recordings, including "Maynard Ferguson," one of a series of pieces named after featured soloists.

When Kenton returned to a more practical 19-piece jazz band, Ferguson continued with him. Contrary to the natural assumption, Ferguson was not Kenton's lead trumpet player, but played the third chair with numerous solo features, as noted in the scores written for the Kenton band during this period. Notable recordings from this period that feature Ferguson include "Invention for Guitar and Trumpet", "What's New?" and "The Hot Canary".

So popular was Ferguson with Kenton that for three years running, 1950, 1951, and 1952, he won the Down Beat Readers' Poll as best trumpeter.^[2][3][4]

In 1953, Ferguson left Kenton to become a session player for Paramount Pictures, soon becoming the first-call player. Ferguson appeared on 46 soundtracks including The Ten Commandments. Ferguson still recorded jazz during this period, but his Paramount contract prevented him from playing jazz clubs. This was sometimes circumvented by appearing under aliases such as "Tiger Brown", "Foxy Corby", and others. While he enjoyed the regular Paramount paycheck, Ferguson was very unhappy with the lack of live performance opportunities and left Paramount in 1956. Ferguson can clearly be discerned on several soundtracks from the time, including the Martin and Lewis films "Living it Up" and "You're Never Too Young."

The Birdland Dream Band[link]

In 1956, Ferguson became the leader of the Birdland Dream Band, a 14-piece big band formed by Morris Levy as an "all-star" lineup to play at Levy's —Birdland jazz club in New York City. While the name "Birdland Dream Band" was short-lived and is represented by only two albums over the course of a year, this band became the core of Ferguson's performing band for the next nine years. The band included, at various times, such players as Slide Hampton, Don Ellis, Don Sebesky, Willie Maiden, John Bunch, Joe Zawinul, Joe Farrell, Jaki Byard, Lanny Morgan, Rufus Jones, Nino Tempo, Bill Berry, Bill Chase, and Don Menza. Arrangers included Slide Hampton, Jay Chattaway, Bob Brookmeyer, Jimmy Giuffre, Bill Holman and Marty Paich.

In 1959 Ferguson guested with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein performing "The Titan Suite", a complicated modernist piece featuring the extreme high register of the trumpet. It is argued that at the time, perhaps no trumpeter but Ferguson could have played the piece at all. Since then, only a handful have attempted to perform the work.

As big bands declined in popularity and economic viability into the 1960s, Ferguson's band performed more infrequently. Ferguson began to feel musically stifled and sensed a resistance to change among his American jazz audiences. According to a Down Beat interview, he was quoted as saying that if the band did not play "Maria" or "Ole," the fans went home disappointed. Ferguson began performing with a sextet before finally officially disbanding his big band in 1966.

Millbrook, India and psychedelic spirituality[link]

After leaving his long-time recording contract and the end of his main club gig, Ferguson moved his family to the Hitchcock estate in Millbrook, New York in November 1963 to live with Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, and their community from Harvard University. He and his wife Flo used LSD, psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs for spiritual awakening. They lived at Millbrook for about three years, playing clubs and recording several albums.^[5][6][7] In 1967, as the Millbrook experiment was ending, Ferguson moved with his family to India, and taught at the Krishnamurti-based Rishi Valley School near Madras. He was associated with the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning's Boys Brass Band, which he founded and helped teach at for several years. While in India, Ferguson was influenced by Sathya Sai Baba, whom he considered as his spiritual guru.^[8]

England[link]

In 1969, Ferguson moved to just outside Windsor (about 20 miles from London) in a very small place called Oakley Green. He had two houses while he was in the UK, the final one being a 3 story house down by the River Thames.

That same year, Ferguson signed with CBS Records in England and formed a big band with British musicians that performed in the newly popular jazz/rock fusion style. The band's repertoire included original compositions as well as pop and rock songs rearranged into a big band format with electronic amplification. This British band's output is represented by the four "MF Horn" albums, which included arrangements of the pop songs "MacArthur Park" and "Hey Jude".

In 1970 he led his big band on UK television as part of BBC's Simon Dee Show (also known as Dee Time).^[9] Ferguson often quipped with Dee,^{[citation needed]} similar to his contemporary Doc Severinsen's rapport with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. By 1971, Ferguson was a household name in Britain.^{[citation needed]}

Return to the U.S.[link]

Ferguson's new band made its North American debut in 1971. With a revived career, Ferguson relocated to New York in 1973 and gradually replaced his sidemen with American performers while reducing the band size to twelve: four trumpets, two trombones, three saxophones and a three-piece rhythm section plus Maynard. The quintessential recording of this period is the album MF Horn 4 & 5: Live at Jimmy's, recorded in 1973 in New York. Ferguson latched on to the burgeoning jazz education movement by recruiting talented musicians from colleges with jazz programs (notably Berklee College of Music, North Texas State University and the University of Miami) and targeting young audiences with performances and master classes in high schools and colleges. This practical and strategic move helped him develop a strong following that would sustain him for the remainder of his career.

Maynard Ferguson, San Francisco 1978