Head Hunters (1973)

Posted by Pierre Igot in: Music
April 3rd, 2003 • 9:09 pm

Listening to Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters album in full for the first time and reading the liner notes, I have two thoughts: 1) Mmm, the bass line is pretty heavily reminiscent of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin” — and 2) Mmm, there’s no guitar player on this album, so what is it that I hear?

Inevitably, both thoughts are immediately echoed by Herbie Hancock himself in the note he wrote for the 1997 rerelease on CD (the one I have). The whole album and “Chameleon” in particular were obviously inspired by funk and by Sly’s music in particular. And what I hear is a clavinet, of course, which, as Herbie Hancock puts it, is a cross “between a guitar and a harpsichord”.

Hard to decide how funky jazz can really be without being funk — and conversely. There’s little point, really — but then it seems to be a concern for Hancock himself, who needs to position his own music in relation to funk. Maybe I’m just more a funk person than a jazz person. I don’t know. At the same time Duke Ellington’s Money Jungle is one of my all-time favourite records.

Ah, music :).


Comments are closed.

Leave a Reply

Comments are closed.