Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters

Head Hunters is the twelfth studio album by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, originally released in October 1973 via Columbia Records.

Herbie Hancock is one of the most prolific jazz pianists of the 20th century. A child prodigy, he played with the greats such as Donald Byrd and Miles Davis. As he was a bit of a geek, he enjoyed gadgets and buttons and he was one of the first to embrace and master the electric piano, but he always stayed true to the acoustic sound. In fact, he always bounced back and forth between his electronic and acoustic sound, touching upon almost every development in R&B, funk and jazz while retaining an original and distinctive voice.

Head Hunters was the first offering of Herbie's new backing band, the Head Hunters. This album followed a series of experimental albums by Hancock's sextet: Mwandishi (1970), Crossings (1972), and Sextant (1972), released between 1971 and 1973, a time when Hancock was looking for a new direction in which to take his music. He describes this in his own words: "I began to feel that I had been spending so much time exploring the upper atmosphere of music and the more ethereal kind of far-out spacey stuff. Now there was this need to take some more of the earth and to feel a little more tethered; a connection to the earth....I was beginning to feel that we (the sextet) were playing this heavy kind of music, and I was tired of everything being heavy. I wanted to play something lighter…"

This is one of Herbie's funkiest records and one of the best selling albums in jazz, due to the fact it appealed to a broad audience - think hip hop, funk, soul and jazz funk fans.

With Head Hunters, Hancock claims a stake in jazz with his infectious synthesizers and clavinet melodies on top of a super tight groove, augmented by subtle horn soloing.

Classic songs such as "Chameleon" and "Watermelon Man" are living proof of his genius and his ability to craft a coherent jazz fusion album. Special mention for drummer Harvey Mason, bassist Paul Jackson and reedist Bernie Maupin (who also contributed to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew).

This album is a 2009 reissue on 180 gram audiophile black vinyl, pressed in Europe via Music On Vinyl.