One of the great jazz flautists of the 1960s, Herbie Mann broke new ground by
exploring a wide range of cultures and sounds from around the globe and helping
to pioneer the world music genre. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Mann started out
playing clarinet as a nine-year-old before performing regularly whilst in the
army in the early 1950s, when stationed in Italy. After being discharged he
played be-bop with Mat Matthews' Quintet and released his first album as a lead
artist Herbie Mann Plays (1954), before travelling on a State Department tour of
Africa in 1959. The trip opened hi...