Viking Announces Acquisition Of Jazz Legend Herbie Hancock’s Memoir

Viking is pleased to announce the acquisition of the memoir of jazz legend Herbie Hancock.  Clare Ferraro, President of Viking, acquired world rights from Robert Barnett of Williams & Connolly.  Viking plans to publish in the fall of 2014, with Rick Kot as editor.

Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modern music. In an illustrious career that has spanned over five decades and earned him 14 Grammy® Awards (including the 2007 Album Of The Year for River: The Joni Letters), he has established himself as one of the premier pianists and composers in jazz—and has expanded the boundaries of traditional jazz by embracing funk, blues, pop and electronic music. From his own records ranging from Blue Note classics like Takin’ Off (1962) and Maiden Voyage (1965) to the groundbreaking Head Hunters (1973), to his membership in Miles Davis’s legendary “second quintet,” one of the great ensembles in the history of jazz, he has been acclaimed as one of the most innovative musicians in the genre. In addition, Herbie Hancock was recently made a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

Clare Ferraro said, “We are proud to have as distinguished and articulate a musician as Herbie Hancock join Viking’s music list.  There are few artists in any genre who have had a career as rich and influential as Mr. Hancock’s, and his memoir promises to be not only the record of a remarkable life and career but a singular chronicle of one of the most fertile periods in the development of jazz.”