Product Description

Head Hunters has spawned a thousand copies and copyists, but is only strengthened through comparison. One of the most enduring works of the 70s' jazz/funk legacy, and surely one of Herbie Hancock's most enjoyable and infectious recordings,the album was released in the deeply groovy days of 1973, and soon became the best-selling record in jazz history. Loping along on a glorious bed of springy wah-wah and synth bass, the group used all the new technology of the time, and Hancock himself seemed to revel (as he still does) in the latest keyboard sounds available to him. Jazz/funk has never again sounded so exciting and dangerous.

Track Listing

1. Chameleon
2. Watermelon Man
3. Sly
4. Vein Melter

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5507 in Music
• Released on: 1997-04-07
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Keyboardist Herbie Hancock's remarkable career took a surprising turn with this funk album. Hancock's already-storied career had included an extended tenure with Miles Davis as a member of both the classic quintet of the 1960s and the trumpeter's groundbreaking electric dates. As a leader, the pianist had followed a similar course, cutting both outstanding acoustic dates (Maiden Voyage, Empyrean Isles) and experimental electric sessions (Sextant, Crossings). Head Hunters, however, was something different: a stripped-down date featuring reedman Bennie Maupin as the only horn player, and a funk-oriented rhythm section made up of Paul Jackson, Harvey Mason, and Bill Summers. Hancock traded in his sophisticated piano performances and complex compositions for simple melodies, slow-burn funk grooves, and light electric keyboard splashes. The results, particularly on the tracks "Chameleon" and "Watermelon Man", had a profound impact on other musicians, although critics charged Hancock with playing to the galleries. But the album has stood the test of time--something neither the wealth of Hancock's imitators nor his own subsequent albums in this vein have been able to do. --Fred Goodman

Customer Reviews

Caution required
If you are not much into jazz, art, inovation, genius or music
AVOID this album.
Saw this album reviewed in a mag, bought it! BIG BIG mistake

I am now a smooth jazz Funk junky, I know nothing of jazz, smooth sounds but lovein it.
It will change your take on music. So if your safe in your bubble stay there, if you want to start a musical journey, start here.

It melts my veins
Anyone who has heard this album and doesn't give it 5 stars needs the doctor. This is the biggest selling jazz album of all time, and rightly so. Its only other near rival is Kind Of Blue (Miles Davis). But this album cannot be compared to any standard jazz output - it is a masterpiece of innovation, a fantastic combination of Sly Stone-inspired US black funk and straight-ahead trio jazz.

It's sensational. Heavy funk riffs, floating electric piano, an unbelievable rhythm section and superb saxophone playing from bennie maupin. This album encapsulates all that was great about 70s fusion, the desire to find new routes through soul, disco, funk, jazz etc. Hancock has proved an absolute master at this - totally at ease in any genre, here he presents the pinnacle of two of the most important american genres: jazz and funk.

There's no point trying to describe the album. Just buy it. If you don't like it, see a doctor.

The coolest album....ever.
If there was ever an introduction that embodied the complete essence of its album, it must be the famous bass line that begins Chameleon. From the opening note, a sense of cool is established that never lets up but for the furious solos on Sly.

Where do you start with Chameleon? It is a staple of funk music, a tune that is known to people who have never listened to jazz in their life, arguably the most famous genre crossover piece in history. BUT, bizarrely, it's perhaps the weakest track on Head Hunters, simply because of the quality of the tunes that follow.

Watermelon Man, funked up from Hancock's Takin' Off (Blue Note, 1963) standard, is given a lazy, half time feel, and easily eclipses the original. Sly, is where the cool feel of the album is briefly broken for insanely energetic solos by Bennie Maupin and then Herbie. The album is finished off with Vein Melter- a deeply chilled out effort that recalls Crossings' (Warner Bros, 1971) Water Torture, and returns the album's tone back into the blue.

Head Hunters is not a perfect album(witness the drums and the bass disagreeing over tempo after the electric piano solo on Chameleon, or Vein Melter's dodgy synth strings), but I like to think that no other jazz-funk album, Hancock's or anyone elses, has ever surpassed it. It remains one of my favourite albums, and a great introduction to Herbie Hancock's funk music.