Head Hunters

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Head Hunters is the album that pianist Herbie Hancock released on Columbia in 1973, and also the name of the band that plays on it. Hancock had just made three experimental records with his Mwandishi sextet and wanted to play something lighter, more down to earth. In San Francisco he put together a new group: reed player Bennie Maupin, bassist Paul Jackson, drummer Harvey Mason and percussionist Bill Summers. That group became known as the Headhunters.

Music and breakthrough

The album has only four pieces. Chameleon revolves around a bass line that Hancock plays on an ARP Odyssey synthesizer. Watermelon Man is a new version of his 1962 hit, with African percussion and Summers blowing across a beer bottle. Sly is dedicated to Sly Stone, and Vein Melter is a slow piece with Fender Rhodes and bass clarinet. There is no guitar: the Hohner Clavinet takes over that role. Jackson and Mason lay a tight, relaxed funk groove beneath it.

Influence

Head Hunters brought jazz-funk and fusion to a large audience and was for a long time the best-selling jazz album. Purists considered it a betrayal, but the record became a model for funk, soul and later hip hop. The band continued to work with Hancock on albums such as Thrust (1974) and also made records of their own, such as Survival of the Fittest (1975). In 2008 the album was added to the archive of the American Library of Congress.

Listening

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 5: Jazz Festival^NL Reader
• After Hours: Session 3^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Jazz-funk GenreIn 1973 Herbie Hancock recorded Head Hunters, which for a long time was the best-selling jazz album; he plays the bass line of Chameleon himself on a synthesizer.