50 Years Ago, Herbie Hancock's Funk-Filled Landmark Album 'Head Hunters' Changed Jazz Forever While Laying the Foundation for Hip Hop

The million copy selling album has been sampled by everyone from 2Pac to Madonna.

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I’ve looked back at albums celebrating fifty years a few times this year. Whether it was Bruce Springsteen’s debut album that I’m really familiar with or more unfamiliar records from one of my favorites like Penguin by Fleetwood Mac, it’s refreshing to approach music from a little over a decade before I was born. While I’ve been listening to music from the decade for as long as I can remember, it’s fun to revisit reviews from when these albums were fresh off the press and before decades of fermentation in American culture.

When digging into October of 1973, looking at the list of records that came out within the month is almost overwhelming. The obvious picks are bonified classics like Elton John’s Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, The Who’s Quadrophenia, Lou Reed’s Berlin, Neil Young’s Time Fades Away, and Grateful Dead’s Wake of the Flood. We also have Peter Gabriel-era Genesis taking a left turn with Selling England By the Pound and mid to lesser efforts from John Lennon and David Bowie. At the same time, Kraftwerk shows up a year before they would break into their classic era with Autobahn the following year. Even Fleetwood Mac was back for a second time in the year with Mystery to Me, another drama-fueled middling effort that would ultimately catapult them into the Buckingham/Nicks era two short years later.

Arguably, the most influential album of the month came from way outside the thriving “classic rock” movement - Head Hunters, the funkified twelfth album from legendary jazz keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock. Having made a name for himself in bebop as part of Miles Davis’s band and leading his sextet ensemble with the Mwandishi Band, Hancock was looking for a fresh outlet. After sharing a bill with the Pointer Sisters and watching the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction, and not being able to forget Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself,” he’d change jazz forever while laying the foundations for hip hop with one record.

In the early seventies, Hancock felt that working with the Mwandishi Band had already pushed jazz to its improvised cosmic limits, and his growing Buddhism practice left him wanting to explore a sound more earthbound. Hancock also wasn’t into the jazz scene’s air of elitism, embracing rock n’ roll’s African influence, while many others in the scene looked down on the still relatively young genre. Funk was also having its most significant moment yet, with James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic leading the way. Miles Davis was already crossing the jazz-funk bridge. Still, Hancock and company would spread the message to the kids, leading to Head Hunters selling over a million copies and being one of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time (Black College radio would have a massive role in this, with Howard University in particular). Hancock left the Mwandashi Band behind for this new era, only bringing saxophonist Bennie Maupin for the next phase. Joined by Paul Jackson on bass, legendary Los Angeles session drummer Harvey Mason, and multi-percussionist Bill Summers. The newly formed band spent the summer of 1973 playing low-key shows along the West Coast before hitting the studio in San Francisco. While mostly recorded live, co-producer David Rubinson encouraged post-production additions, giving Head Hunters a slicker feel than most of the jazz albums at that time.

With only four songs clocking in a little over forty minutes, Head Hunters’ runtime flies by as the band rolls through their funk-infused improvisations. Side A consists of the two heavy hitters with “Chameleon” and an update to “Watermelon Man,” a song Hancock recorded for his solo debut in 1964. Originally titled “Caesar Salad” (smart move with the name change), “Chameleon” is defined by Hancock’s slithering synth riff and a grooving single bass note that wanders perfectly for almost sixteen minutes. “Watermelon Man” brilliantly incorporates multi-layered rhythms and percussion with Bill Summers blowing on a beer bottle in a now iconic moment. The back half leans more into the players’ jazz experience, with the frantic city traffic sounds on “Sly” before “Vein Melter” cools things off under Miles Davis’s influence.

In addition to giving jazz a much-needed funky kick in the pants, Head Hunters would also prove to be sampling heaven when hip-hop started to gain in popularity over the next decade. As much as Head Hunters has been an essential entry in my record collection for many years, I’d be lying if this record was the first place I heard these songs. “Chameleon” has been sampled over fifty times, with Spoonie Gee’s “Did You Come to Party” being the first time in hip-hop in 1987. Acts like Anquette, Schoolly D, and Digital Underground would soon follow before Biz Markie, Public Enemy, and Ice Cube -there is no better use of the song than on 2Pac’s “Words of Wisdom” from his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now:

Both the 1964 and 1973 versions of “Watermelon Man” are also popular samples, with the latter appearing over ninety times on other artist’s songs. Legendary beatmaker J Dilla pulled from it multiple times, Digable Planets used it for “Escapism (Getting Free),” and even Shaquille O’Neal butchers it on “I Hate 2 Brag.” Outside of hip-hop, George Michael and Madonna built songs around “Watermelon Man,” with the latter’s “Sanctuary” featuring it alongside a classic Nellee Hooper trip-hop beat on her album Bedtime Stories.

Since it’s the weekend, I highly recommend giving Head Hunters a spin. It’s a perfect cocktail hour record that always seems to lighten the mood and one that you’ll quickly add to your collection if it’s not already there.