In the video for Herbie Hancock's 1983 smash hit, "Rockit," everything from mannequins to animal skeletons is in constant motion. The pinnacle of his popular success, the video is also a fitting metaphor for Hancock's career: more than any other giant in jazz, he has evolved musically at every turn. In 2007, 45 years after recording his first album, he won his 11th Grammy Award, Album Of The Year, for an exploration of Joni Mitchell's music, "River, The Joni Letters."

Hancock traces his constant progression back to his childhood.

"I was always curious about things, which is one of the reasons I was interested in science," says Hancock by phone from his California home. "My first major in college was electrical engineering before I switched in my second year to musical composition. I always was interested in examining things, taking them apart and seeing how they worked. A seeking spirit is behind my desire to always look for new vistas, look for things that carry with them a mystery of the unknown."

Hancock had his first taste of fame with his song "Watermelon Man," written for his debut album in 1962. The tune was covered by Latin star Mongo Santamaria and became a giant hit.

"I thought, maybe I can write something that can sell the record. But I didn't want to sell my soul to commerciality," says Hancock. "Since the funky thing seemed to be accessible - Horace Silver had written ‘Song For My Father' - I thought, maybe I can write something funky. Where does that funky sound come from? It comes from the African-American culture. So, I said, as an African-American, what can I find from my experience that I can draw from to write something like this so that it actually means something? What's really ethnic?

"I thought about the watermelon man who used to go through the cobblestone alleys of Chicago, and he had a little song that he sang which wasn't too melodic," Hancock says. "But I remember the women on the back porches saying, ‘Heyyyyy, watermelon man!' That became the melody. And the rhythmic part was my attempt to capture the spirit of the wagon wheels going over the cobblestones."

Perhaps the most beautiful and enduring of Hancock's compositions became the title tune for his 1965 "Maiden Voyage" album. Even 45 years later, it's so gorgeous to listen to that it's a shock to hear Hancock's explanation of the inspiration behind it.

"‘Maiden Voyage' was originally written for a television commercial for Yardley men's cologne," says Hancock with a laugh. "The scene was supposed to be in a very sophisticated jazz club with high-back chairs, a really upscale jazz club, which, as far as I knew, didn't exist at that time. I had that idea in my mind."

The song's odd structure is one of its most ingenious qualities. "I learned a big lesson writing that," says Hancock. "I got the first section and the second section and a change for the third section, the classic AABA form. I played it for two hours looking for a way to resolve it. I said, listen to what you're playing. I played the first section again and I realized it didn't need to resolve."

At that time, Hancock was already playing piano in the classic 1960's Miles Davis Quintet with Wayne Shorter on sax, Ron Carter on bass, and Tony Williams on drums. Hancock regards Davis as his musical mentor.

"He helped instill in me certain kinds of values and observations," Hancock says. "Through observing him I learned that listening to the other musicians is really important. When he played he was responding to each of the guys in the rhythm section. It was helping shape his ideas. So when he played it really sounded like a band with a single focus, rather than him soloing and a couple of guys just making it comfortable for him in the background. When he soloed it would be like a dialogue, and it made the band sound better."

Davis was also a role model when it came to moving ahead. "He told us one time that he pays us to work on things - not just play the standard thing that you know will work, but find things that you haven't found before, work on ideas and concepts," Hancock says. "We had the freedom to do that. We would start something and it would sound like three different things. He would solo and pull it all together. Then I realized how my idea related to what Tony Williams was doing, and what Ron Carter was doing."

Davis surprised Hancock one day in 1968 with a Fender Rhodes electric keyboard. Hancock not only mastered it, he went on to embrace all manner of electric keyboards. They were featured prominently on his1983 album, "Future Shock," which featured "Rockit." The song was so dominant among break dancers that, in a contest where the dancers could select their own music, 24 out of 25 requested "Rockit."

Jazz purists were outraged, but Hancock saw it as another step forward. "Are you kidding? I loved it," he says. "Because, with my own playing, I didn't have to bend my artistic integrity. I still soloed the way I solo. It's just because the context was more accessible. The result is I got a hit record."

Before "Rockit," Hancock played with Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Hank Mobley - almost every jazz titan of the day. Afterward he still played with jazz greats, but he began turning up on albums by Mick Jagger, Bonnie Raitt, The Isley Brothers, and a broad cross-section of pop artists. "The thing I did was say yes; that was the difference," Hancock says.

Not surprisingly, Hancock is still looking ahead. His upcoming album, "The Imagine Project," is global in scope. Hancock, who collaborates with musicians from all over the world, believes a change is coming.

"There's going to be a real paradigm shift globally within the human species," says Hancock. "It's going to affect the way we look at ourselves and the way we look at the world. Ideally it will be a deeper understanding of the importance of the world outside of ourselves - our environment, mother nature, the planet."

Herbie Hancock

Tuesday, June 15

Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, 60 Gibbs St.

8 p.m. | $55-$90