Headhunters

Hancock, Herbie

album cover

Out of the Shadow of Sly Comes the Funkiest Fusion

Herbie Hancock did lots of soul searching in the early '70s. After pursuing heady jazz expression as part of acoustic and electric jazz ensembles led by Miles Davis, he concluded, as many of his contemporaries did, that his destiny lay elsewhere. In one interview, he remembered thinking at the time that he'd never reach Charlie Parker status. The keyboardist said he needed to "forget about becoming a legend and just be satisfied to create some music to make people happy."

That philosophical shift led him to Head Hunters, the band built around bassist Paul Jackson, drummer Harvey Mason (later Mike Clarke), percussionist Bill Summers, and reedman Bennie Maupin. And that led to an album that opened up worlds even the visionary Hancock didn't foresee. Four extended jams built on simple recurring rhythm figures modeled after the hits of then-massive Sly and the Family Stone, Head Hunters represented a leading edge of electric funk exploration then. It remains a landmark still.

The opening track "Chameleon" is an instant firestarter: Built on a Sly-like motif (Hancock once said these songs came to him after he visualized what it would be like to play in Stone's band), it's wound much tighter than most fusion. The revolving-door loop practically forces the soloists to reach beyond typical blues-based riffing, and Hancock responds with shimmering, at times impressionistic electric piano colors that float over the timekeeping agitations. All of the solos are cool and cosmopolitan—to experience an absolute peak of electric jazz, check Hancock's up-tempo romp on "Sly." Against a squabbling clavinet part that is jaw-dropping all by itself, Hancock drops a series of syncopated electric piano figures that are every bit as cogent and adventurous as his memorable turns with Davis's '60s quintet. Head Hunters became the bestselling jazz album of all time and made Hancock a legend. Naturally, it happened immediately after he stopped worrying about being a legend.

Genre: Jazz
Released: 1973, Columbia
Key Tracks: "Chameleon," "Sly," "Watermelon Man."
Catalog Choice: Mr. Hands; Sound System; Village Life (with Foday Musa Suso).
Next Stop: Weather Report: Black Market
After That: Billy Cobham: Dreams
Book Pages: 339–340