The Headhunters are a band specialising in jazz-funk fusion, best known for their albums with jazz keyboard player Herbie Hancock during the 1970s.

History

The band assembled for Herbie Hancock's 1973 album Head Hunters. Reflecting the new direction for Hancock, this was a new line up, with only wind-player Bennie Maupin in common with his previous sextet. Bassist Paul Jackson was really the only other member who maintained a continuous presence in the line up. For this first album they were joined by percussionist Bill Summers and drummer Harvey Mason. This album would become the biggest selling jazz album of all time.

The band continued to work with Herbie Hancock throughout the seventies, although the precise line-up varied from album to album. For the follow up to their eponymous debut, 1974's Thrust , Mike Clark took over drumming duties; both Mason and Clark contribued drums to the third Headhunters album, 1975's Man-Child , which featured guest appearances from Stevie Wonder on harmonica and Wayne Shorter on soprano sax, amongst its greatly expanded line-up. (The release notes credit 18 musicians, in contrast to the simple quintet of their debut.)

1975 also saw their first album without Hancock, Survival of the Fittest , featuring the hit "God Made Me Funky".

Secrets (1976) saw James Levi installed as drummer, Kenneth Nash on percussion, and the addition of Ray Parker and Wah Wah Watson on guitar, alongside regulars Hancock, Maupin and Jackon. This was the Headhunters line-up who performed two tracks at the V.S.O.P. concert on June 29, 1976 as part of the Newport Jazz Festival. The concert was released as an album in 1977.

1978's Sunlight saw guest appearances from renowned bassist Jaco Pastorius of Weather Report and drummer Tony Williams, and the same year saw their second album without Hancock, Straight from the Gate .

As the 1970s turned to the 1980s, Herbie Hancock drifted away from the band as he moved into his electro-orientated phase, and they ceased operation as a visible unit. The band were later reunited, with Hancock, for the 1998 album Return of the Headhunters .

Musicology

The music produced by the Headhunters was a diverse and complex blend of many styles and genres, primarily including jazz, funk, African and Afro-Carribean music, as well as pioneering use of electronic instruments and effects.

In the sleeve notes to Head Hunters, Herbie Hancock confirms that track 3, Sly, is named in tribute to Sly Stone, leader of Sly & the Family Stone. This band, along with George Clinton's Parliament and James Brown are the key influences from funk. As in funk, the band often built a groove around a bassline, and Paul Jackson's often deceptively simple licks are frequently the bedrock of Headhunters material. The opening track of Head Hunters, Chameleon, which is still perhaps their most famous track, provides a fine example of this.

Also taken from funk is the technique of building a complex groove by combining many small but carefully interlocking, syncopated contributions. Although all guitar-like parts were handled by Herbie Hancock on the first two albums, electric guitars were introduced from Man-Child onwards, and generally drew heavily on the funk tradition of rhythm guitar. Wah Wah Watson in particular specialised in the "wah wah" style typical of funk.

While straightforward funk depending on a snappy, danceable backbeat from the drummer, the various drummers in the Headhunters tended to use the stability of Paul Jackson's basslines as a anchor, allowing them to play in and around his motif, creating more advanced and complex rhythmic patterns, drawing on the jazz drumming tradition. This is probably exemplified on Thrust.

Although the Headhunters albums were often belitted as "pop" by purist jazz critics at the time, it is now widely accepted that they contain a significant influence from, and contribution to, the supposedly "serious" jazz canon. Their music featured extensive improvisation, and soloists using modes over chord progressions, just as in the jazz mainstream. Most of the overtly jazz-influenced material comes in the form of solos from Herbie Hancock and Bennie Maupin.

A strong connection to African music is evident, with the role of percussion hugely enhanced compared to mainstream jazz, and more extensive exploration of complex polyrhythms than in much funk. Afro-Carribean influence is also evident, particularly apparent on the Secrets LP with a reggae/calypso reworking of Hancock's jazz standard Canteloupe Island.

The band are also notable for the unusually wide-range of instruments used. Hancock used myriad keyboards from the staple Fender Rhodes electric piano and Hohner clavinet, as well as being an early adopter of synthesisers, particularly instruments from ARP. He also pioneered use of the vocoder effect. Maupin used bass, tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet and bass flute, and oddities such as the Saxello and Lyricon . Unusual choices like beer bottles and the Voice Bag also featured in their instrumentation.

Members

The following members appeared on multiple releases:

• Herbie Hancock: keyboards, electric pianos, clavinet, synthesisers
• Bennie Maupin: Saxophones, Saxello, Clarinets, Flutes, Lyricon
• Paul Jackson : bass guitar
• Harvey Mason , James Levi , Mike Clark , James Gadson : drums
• Bill Summers, Kenneth Nash : percussion
• Ray Parker , Wah Wah Watson: electric guitar