Abstract
The decade of the 1960s witnessed a vast expansion of the harmonic resources available to the jazz composer. The compositions of jazz pia nist Herbie Hancock played an important role in shaping this emerging harmonic language. The innovations that arose affected both harmonic structure (chord type) and harmonic progression (chord-to-chord succes sion). These newer harmonic developments?often referred to as or jazz?remain today as a significant cornerstone of the harmonic vocabulary of jazz. In this article I examine several of Hancock's compositions written and recorded during the 1960s, pointing out Hancock's compositional approaches and innovations against the backdrop of standard functional harmony and modal harmony. I address three general questions: (1) How is compositional structure created when harmonic function is weakened or absent? (2) How did Hancock further extend the modal innovations pioneered by Miles Davis and others? (3) In what ways was Hancock
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