Head Hunters

by Herbie Hancock

Overview

Head Hunters was a pivotal point in Herbie Hancock's career, bringing him into the vanguard of jazz fusion. Hancock had pushed avant-garde boundaries on his own albums and with Miles Davis, but he had never devoted himself to the groove as he did on Head Hunters. Drawing heavily from Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and James Brown, Hancock developed deeply funky, even gritty, rhythms over which he soloed on electric synthesizers, bringing the instrument to the forefront in jazz. It had all of the sensibilities of jazz, particularly in the way it wound off into long improvisations, but its rhythms were firmly planted in funk, soul, and R&B, giving it a mass appeal that made it the biggest-selling jazz album of all time (a record which was later broken). Jazz purists, of course, decried the experiments at the time, but Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, soul, and hip-hop. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	03/25/1997
Label:	Legacy / Sony Music Distribution
UPC:	0074646512326

Tracks

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

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Herbie Hancock   Primary Artist,Synthesizer,Fender Rhodes,ARP Synthesizer,Piano (Electric),Pipe,Piano,Vocals,Soloist,Clavinet,Keyboards,Arp Odyssey
Bennie Maupin   Guest Artist,Wind,Flute,Reeds,Saxello,Saxophone,Percussion,Sax (Tenor),Flute (Alto),Sax (Soprano),Clarinet (Bass)
Kevin Gore   Director
Paul Jackson   Bass,Marimba,Marimbula,Bass (Electric)
Paul Jackson, Jr.   Marimbula,Bass (Electric)
Steven Berkowitz   Director
Harvey Mason, Sr.   Drums
Bill Summers   Agogo,Drums,Surdo,Bottle,Cabasa,Congas,Balafon,Shakere,Shekere,Gankogui,Hinedewho,Log Drums,Percussion,Tambourine,Multi Instruments
Oren Waters   Vocals

Technical Credits

Vic Anesini   Engineer,Digital Remixing,Digital Remastering
Herbie Hancock   Original Recording Producer,Composer,Producer,Liner Notes
Seth Rothstein   Project Director
Patti Matheny   A&R,Artist Coordination
Rene Arsenault   Assistant Producer,Production Assistant
Kevin Gore   Reissue Series
Waldo Bascom   Photography
Scott H. Thompson   Liner Notes
Cozbi Sanchez-Cabrera   Art Direction,Reissue Art Director
Gina Campanaro   Coordination,Package Coordinator
Paul M. Martin   Art Coordinator
Randall Martin   Design,Reissue Design
Paul Jackson   Composer
Steven Berkowitz   Reissue Series
Bob Belden   Reissue Producer,Executive Producer
The Headhunters   Group
Fred Catero   Engineer
David Rubinson   Producer,Original Recording Producer
Scott Thompson   Liner Notes
Jeremy Zatkin   Engineer
Mark Wilder   Mastering,Digital Mastering
Harvey Mason, Sr.   Arranger,Composer
John Snyder   Producer,Project Producer
Michael Brooks   Coordination
Amy Herot   Coordination
Bennie Maupin   Composer
Gary Pacheco   Coordination
Victor Moscoso   Design,Cover Design,Art Direction
Jennifer Ebert   Packaging Manager
John Naatjes   Tape Research,Tape Vault Research