The headhunters
| The headhunters | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Rock jazz , jazz radio |
| founding | 1973, 1998 |
| resolution | 1976, after 2000 |
| Founding members | |
| Herbie Hancock | |
| Bennie Maupin | |
| Paul Jackson | |
| Bill Summers | |
| Harvey Mason | |
| Last occupation | |
saxophone |
Donald Harrison |
| Jerry Z. | |
Electric bass |
TM Stevens |
percussion |
Bill Summers |
Drums |
Mike Clark |
| former members | |
Drums |
Mike Clark (since 1974) |
| Blackbyrd McKnight (1975) | |
Electric guitar |
Ray Parker Jr. (1976) |
Electric guitar |
Wah Wah Watson (1976) |
Drums |
James Levi (1976) |
percussion |
Kenneth Nash (1976) |
The Headhunters was a very successful fusion / funk - jazz group around the keyboardist Herbie Hancock , which Hancock first set up for his 1973 album Head Hunters after he had broken up his old sextet. They were directly influenced by the more commercial funk music of Sly Stone and James Brown , with whose audiences the group landed a hit with the composition Chameleon from their first album, and were influential pioneers in the use of electronic instruments and effects at the time. In addition to Hancock, the bassist Paul Jackson (electric bass) and the saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist Bennie Maupin from Hancock's sextet were there, who formed the backbone of the group with otherwise changing drummers - initially drummer Harvey Mason and percussionist Bill Summers . Hancock toured with the headhunters; several records were made together - Thrust (1974), Flood (1975) and Man-Child (1975).
history
In particular, due to the overwhelming success of the album Head Hunters with more than a million copies sold, Bennie Maupin, Bill Summers, Paul Jackson and Mike Clark decided to continue working without Hancock when he was considering other lineups. As The Headhunters , they continued to record for the record company Arista Records . In 1976 they released a successful album without Hancock, Survival of the Fittest , which was the first time in the group used electric guitar ( DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight ). In 1976 the album Straight from the Gate followed, also without Hancock. After a performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1976, Hancock stopped playing his headhunters material and concentrated on working with the group VSOP (Reunion of the Miles Davis Quintet of the 1960s; last recordings of some of the headhunters with Hancock can be found on the album VSOP recorded at the festival ) . In 1978 the Headhunters recorded the album Straight from the Gate .
The Headhunters only got back together with Hancock in 1998 for the recording of the album Return of the Headhunters . Since then there was again a group of headhunters in New Orleans around Summers, Jackson and the drummer Mike Clark , who had already played on the 1974 album Thrust . They published in 2003 Evolution Revolution and took in 2005 with the saxophonist Rebecca Barry on (Rebecca Barry and the Headhunters) . Hancock played with a group he called Headhunters 2005 (starring Marcus Miller , Terri Lyne Carrington , Roy Hargrove , John Mayer, Lionel Loueke, and Munyungo Jackson) in 2005 .
The original The Headhunters signed a record deal with the Indianapolis- based jazz label Owl Studios in 2010 . Her album Platinum was released there on June 14, 2011. It features many original band members as well as guest musicians such as Snoop Dogg , George Clinton and Killah Priest .
Discography
- Survival of the Fittest ( Arista , 1975)
- Straight from the Gate (Arista, 1976)
- Return of the Headhunters ( Verve , 1998)
- Evolution Revolution (Basin Street, 2003)
- On Top - Live in Europe (BHM, 2008)
literature
- Steven Pond: Head Hunters: The Making of Jazz's First Platinum Album Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press 2005
Web links
- The Headhunters at laut.de
- The Headhunters at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Owl Studios: The Headhunters - Platinum (OWL00139)