The Success of “Head Hunters” by Herbie Hancock’s Band

Herbie Hancock’s band combined different elements while creating their popular album Head Hunters. Bill Summers, found in ethnical music, was fond of African authentic music style called  Hindewhu. These authentic elements appear in some songs of the album. They add authentic and natural sounding to funk music. Guys poured water into the bottle to add special natural sounding to their music and this created a new effect.

The band gathered together to play funk music. At the same time, they were open to musical experiments and finally, their original sounding was expended with jazz music.  Mwandishi influenced the band’s sounding. Past experience and music preferences had an impact on the new album, but the old experience was expanded with sound experiments. “If Mwandishi had worked with the intergalactic palette, this new band was working with the earthy one” (Hancock). They were in the search for new melodies and rhythms. Despite all band members had an intention to play funk music, they added new sounding and new dimensions to their work and finally they find inspiration in the combination of jazz and funk. 

Improvisation and personal experience of band members added to the creation of new sounding. Harvey Mason, the drummer added unusual sounding to the compositions. Paul Jackson, funk bass player created new bass lines and used new patterns for his lines whenever it was possible. This way even old compositions, such as Watermelon Man, got new sounding and new interpretation.  Improvisation and desire to discover new dimensions in sounding helped the artists find new ways of music expression.

Head Hunters became an extremely popular album, produced by the band. Within six months the album went gold.  The number of factors contributed to this fact. The band chooses new approach to production and advertisement. In contrast to usual manner, when the album is produced and later played during the concerts, the band played their new works for the public before the album was recorded. Such an approach enabled the musicians to choose the best sounding for their new compositions. In addition, the public got the chance to see new works of their favorite band. This way, the advertisement company started much earlier the album was produced. By the time it was recorded people already recognized songs and compositions from it.  “Normally a band will make a record and then play in clubs and concerts to support it. But I decided to do the opposite” (Hancock).  At this point, playing compositions before the official release helped musicians to choose the best sounding for their new album. In addition, the public becomes prepared for the release. 

New sound and new music style became an important discovery, which contributed to album’s popularity. The authors of the album combined a lot of components, which seemed incompatible, but gave interesting sound effect. Jazz-funk combination, which became a new musical experiment for the band, became a successful combination. The audience liked the experiment. Musicians turned to new musical forms and created a unique combination, which distinguished their work from other jazz bands. “As we worked out the songs for our new record we were turning into a new kind of band: a jazz-funk fusion band. I hadn’t intended to go down that road at all, but that’s where the music was leading us” (Hancock).  The band targeted into the new niche of jazz-funk, which has just appeared during that time and that became one of the important factors, which contributed to the popularity of the album.

The name of the album also contributed to its popularity. The band managed to choose a provocative, original and attractive title, which attracted public attention. As Hancock states,  “I wanted something primitive and earthy but an intellectual component – a smart title that would get people thinking” (Hancock).  The title became the symbol of a new epoch for the band. Later the band itself played concerts under this name

Works Cited

Hancock,  Herbie Possibilities, published by Penguin Books, 2014.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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