Jazz, law, planning —
Colin Hancock ’25 does it all.
By Christopher Roberts
Photo by Recording Academy
It’s a common refrain that law schools love to sing: Great students can, and do, come from all walks of life, with experiences as varied as the creative mind can imagine. And Texas Law has certainly always welcomed an eclectic group to its ranks. In a given year, the school might have one-time professional athletes, news anchors, arctic explorers, and ordained ministers.
Still, it was something of a departure from the stereotype of an eager young law student when a jazz musician, historian, composer, and producer joined the ranks of aspiring Lawhorns in 2022. Then again, it wasn’t much surprise to the artist himself.
“I practically grew up here,” says a beaming Colin Hancock ’25. “My mom is a Texas Law graduate, and my dad taught at UT in the Linguistics Department.”
Hancock boasts an eclectic résumé. He earned his undergraduate degree in Urban and Regional Studies from Cornell University and then his master’s in Urban Planning from Columbia, spending summers as a volunteer restorationist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, “mapping and designing trails and restoring old historic cabins in Chinati Mountains State Natural Area,” northwest of Big Bend.
All the while, he was preserving more than natural wonders.
Throughout his earlier studies and work, Hancock was keeping up a busy career as a jazz musician and historian, with a particular focus on so-called acoustic recording, before the invention of the microphone. He even formed the Semper Phonograph Company in Austin as 17-year-old determined to recreate the wax cylinder recording methods of the music he adored.
Hancock has now added several Grammy nominations to his list of accomplishments, most recently a 2024 nod for producing “The Moaninest Moan of Them All,” a collection of rare recordings by Loren McMurray, the pioneering American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who died tragically young a century ago. “I never thought I’d be in the same room as Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Miley Cyrus!” says Hancock of his most recent Grammy night.
Graduation is approaching but Hancock is keeping the music going. He plays and records with The Joymakers and is a member of Mike Davis’ New York Classic Seven, all while focusing in on a coming career “that will combine land use law, environmental and water law, and my foundation in urban planning.” The late hard bop saxophonist Cannonball Adderly once said, “Hipness is not a state of mind, it’s a fact of life.” That fact is, Colin Hancock is the hippest Texas Law lawyer you’ll ever meet.