Herbie Hancock inks deal for memoirs

(CBS/AP) Jazz pioneer Herbie Hancock has a deal with Viking Press for a memoir expected in 2014.

The Grammy-wining pianist and composer from Chicago rose to fame in the 1960s playing with trumpeter Miles Davis and composed hits such as "Watermelon Man," "Chameleon" and "Cantaloupe Island."

Hancock, who turns 72 this week, has won 14 Grammys and for decades has been mixing jazz with blues, soul, funk and electronic music. He won an Academy Award in 1986 for the score to "Round Midnight."

"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," said Clare Ferraro, president of Viking Press.

The book will be, in part, a spiritual journey. Hancock will tell of being a Buddhist and how he does not see himself primarily as a musician, even though he has been playing piano since age 7.

He has not only played with such jazz greats as Davis, Coleman Hawkins and Donald Byrd, but with such pop performers as Joni Mitchell, Sting and Stevie Wonder. His 2010 album, "The Imagine Project," includes contributions from Seal, John Legend and Dave Matthews.

"I am hoping this book will not only appeal to jazz fans,'' said.Hancock during a during a telephone interview from Shanghai, where he is currently on tour.

He will work on the book with a collaborator, still to be determined. Financial terms were not disclosed for the memoir, which interested several publishers, but was landed by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA).

Hancock was represented by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, whose clients range from President Obama to Barbra Streisand.