AR: Head Hunters

Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters (1973)

Easily the quintessence of funk-jazz - or, um, jazz-funk, depending on your point of view - Herbie Hancock's 1973 monster-of-an-album Head Hunters effectively tore the roof off the sucka and married jazz and r&b/funk-soul into one of those old-school, traditional style marriages, you know, the kinds that don't quit no matter how bad things get*. Without going into too much of a history - you can certainly glean that from other corners of the internet - the album was a gigantic commercial success, attracting a vastly wider-than-jazz audience and selling well over a million copies. Hancock's virtuoso playing on electric organ and synths and phasers /photon blasters / iPhones and whatever else the hell he had over funky drumming in the style of Sly & Marvin hit all kinds of right vibes, and this super accessible, dance-groove music found many a home on American stereos. This caused all kinds of predictable hand-wringing from particular circles - is it *really* jazz? what's with all those electronics? won't anyone think of the children? - but there's really no denying 1, the fantastic technical playing on this disc or 2, the indelible imprint it left on jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop, and let's be honest, TV show themes**.

* - This is not HH or HH's fault, but yeah, jazz/funk fusion, with its underlying "hey rock/funk kid, let's stretch this out" invitation, (arguably) brought jazz to a creative halt. It's also probably responsible for, among other things, at least part of the Phish aesthetic, too, so it's not all bad. But no contest on the general sentiment that liscenses to jazz noodle should only have been allowed to be issued to the most capable hands, and they were not. This is a long way of saying that popularity is a double-edged sword.

** - It's unbelievable how many times Bull, Mac, Harry Anderson, Dan Fielding, and that nighttime picture of the courthouse pop into my head in reaction to certain riffs on this disc. Testimony to how aped this sound was through the late '70s / early '80s.

The leadoff track is an all-time BEAST of a bassline riff / jazz number, the indomitable "Chameleon." You know this even if you don't. Chugging along at fifteen minutes (!!)(and this was the most popular track!), this is pretty much the stretched out groove based improv vehicle that sold a thousand Casios. I have no idea if that's historically accurate, but it's an amazing display; the drum and bass backbone is impeccable, and the jam coming from keyboards (and later a sax) is the benchmark for all similar music. Differing textures and rhythms, the leads are enthralling throughout. What's even cooler is that you may tend to remember this as just an on-and-on jam that sits on that opening riff, but it's got a classic AABA structure - around the halfway point, there's an extended space/ambient softer jam that refreshes the song and makes the outro that much better. What else to say about this one; it's THE signature funk-jazz and more than worth the poa. I also defy you to hear that opening riff and not at least subconsciously, real Cool Chester Cheetah style, mutter, "Baaaadass..."

Even weirder is that the next track is arguably funkier. "Watermelon" is a rearrangement of a HH song fron the '60s and is famous for its blow-over-a-beer bottle vocal opening. That opening superbly coalesces into a laid-back, loose breezy summer jam, perfectly merging a great halting bassline, silky sax and sparse guitar. The syncopation of the various instruments in establishing the funk feel of the track out of the somewhat tribal intro is fantastic. Chester actually managed to get a bit Cooler here, quite unbelievably. Another bangup track.

After those two tracks, it would be near impossible for the rest of the album to measure up, and while it doesn't, it's still damn fine stuff. "Sly" is an homage to he of "& the Family Stone" fame, and it starts with another laid back, sentimental slow groove that builds into a frenetic solo workout. This more than the other tracks sounds like "jazz fusion" to me, more of a workout virtuoso display than a real tuneful exercise. Don't get me wrong, it's awesome, it just sits more in the "for those who like crazy all over the map solos" bin. The sax in particular is played alien communications style - allaboutjazz.com describes this as a "free-for-all," and that's spot on. The closer "Vein Melter" is a waaaaaay slowed down atmospheric ballad (especially after the breakneck of the previous track) that serves as the after-after-after party soundtrack and soothes appropriately. It's beautiful and backed by an almost dirge-steady rhythm section of snare / tambourine. Good, but very, very spacey.

And that's it - 42 minutes of primo keyboard-led jams, and a (sub)genre was born. It's a fantastic album, top to bottom and back again great, and again, I'd recommend it emphatically had it just been Chameloen as a single. I personally don't care (as should be obvious given my other in-Ph-atuations) about the "it's not *real* jazz angle that is occasionally taken w/r/t HH; in my mind the word "jazz" does not imply its instrumentation. This move just added an exciting dimension to the genre, followers be damned. And really, the genre melting just means it's essential as a jazz album AND a funk album. And that's cool.

Status: Desert Island Recommended
Nyet's Fave: "Chameleon"