Herbie Hancock

Few jazz pianists have had as wide an impact on American popular culture as Herbie Hancock. He scored hits with songs such as “Watermelon Man” and “Chameleon” in the ’70s, blew up MTV with “Rockit” in the ’80s, and provided fodder for hip-hop heads to bite into with “Cantaloupe Island” and “Maiden Voyage”—and that’s not even taking into account his epochal playing with Miles Davis. You can typically catch him each summer at the Hollywood Bowl, where he serves as the creative chair of jazz (this time around, he’s reuniting his band from the landmark album Head Hunters).