Head Hunters 1973 Album

Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock is mainly known for a couple of things - playing with Miles Davis, and staking his own claim to fame in the early 80's through a massive synthesizer-laden hit, "Rockit". This particular disc happened to be part of a slew of popular jazz-fusion albums from the early-to-mid 70's. In fact, Head Hunters was the first one of these to sell more than a million copies. But whereas many other albums in the genre were fairly challenging, Head Hunters was smooth and accessible. Then again, compared to other jazz composers from his era, Herbie wasn't exactly in that transcendent category, more like an entertaining, mid-level operator. When someone like Miles Davis crossed jazz with rock 'n' roll and funk, the results were often bewildering, astounding, and just plain on another level, but Hancock? Well, you get Head Hunters - which sounds nice, even logical, but doesn't justify all the space it aims to take up.