Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modern music: a jazz pianist and composer whose illustrious career has spanned seven decades, fourteen Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and most recently, a Kennedy Center Honor. In his new memoir, Herbie Hancock: Possibilities, he reflects on his life and thriving career. A true innovator, Hancock has had an enormous influence on both acoustic and electric jazz, R&B and hip-hop. From his beginnings as a child prodigy to his work in Miles Davis’s second great quintet; from his innovations as the leader of his own groundbreaking sextet to his collaborations with everyone from Wayne Shorter to Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder; he now reveals the method behind his undeniable musical genius. Born in Chicago in 1940, 14-time Grammy Winner Herbie Hancock was a child piano prodigy who performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11. He began playing jazz in high school, initially influenced by Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. He also developed a passion for electronics and science, and double-majored in music and electrical engineering at Grinnell College. He acted and played in the film Round Midnight (1986) and won an Oscar for his score. River: The Joni Letters won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 2007. In 2011 he was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and received a Kennedy Center Honor in December of 2013. In May 2014 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from SFJazz.