Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock, born in Chicago, is one of the greatest and most celebrated jazz musicians of all time, an intelligent personality as well as a lively pianist with an exquisite touch. Born in 1940, he trained musically in his youth by learning classical music, but his interest then turned to jazz, whose language and attitude he absorbed as a self-taught musician. He graduated from the conservatory and earned a degree in electronic engineering, a combination that would go on to shape his compositional outlook considerably. Although he had already debuted as a leader in 1962, his career took off shortly after when he joined another giant, Miles Davis, contributing significantly to the rhythm section of his quintet and thus earning the attention of critics and audiences alike.

Young Hancock grew and matured through a string of essential albums such as "Inventions & Dimensions" (1964), "Empyrean Isles" (1965) and "Maiden Voyage" (1966). In this phase, like his mentor, he experimented with composition, crafting pieces where technique served expressiveness, exploring territory on the border between modal jazz and post-bop, both of which had developed in the 1950s. He brought a distinctive touch to these strands through his piano, around which the songs were built. Much of the rest of the instrumentation was often limited to the rhythm section, with drums conversing with the piano's chimes, or to horns forming small orchestras accompanying his style. Hancock is catchy yet virtuosic, unafraid of odd time signatures and long, brilliant solo excursions, all without ever losing his verve. He was prolific, drawing on various sources of inspiration to enrich his repertoire, also composing for numerous advertisements, and laying the foundations of a songwriting style that would endure even as the sounds and timbres in which it was expressed changed.

The turning point for Hancock came with the transitional album "Fat Albert Rotunda" (1970), in which rhythm & blues influences and the recently born funk sound burst disruptively into the American musician's style, as he moved closer to the territories of electric jazz and fusion. Always attentive to musical innovations in the jazz field, Hancock was, curiously and strikingly, initially wary of these sounds. The push to open up came once again from Davis, who had him play on his masterpiece "In A Silent Way" (1969) and encouraged him to experiment. It was, in particular, listening to "Bitches Brew" (1970) that changed Hancock's mind: the use of keyboards and synthesizers fascinated him, and from that point on, albeit with differing approaches and languages, electronic experimentation would become his trademark.

At this point, Herbie Hancock's music underwent a transformation. His three excellent following albums, "Mwandishi" (1971), "Crossings" (1972) and "Sextant" (1973), represent a particularly experimental period for the American artist, who let his creativity run free, touching on cosmic and ethereal sounds. African ethnic sounds were also blended into the electronics in his colorful melting pots. Although it marked a highly significant period for his artistic maturity, with original and dynamic compositions of the highest value, this triptych did not fully satisfy him.

In 1973, right after the release of "Sextant", Hancock looked back at his immediate past and felt the need to take his music in a new direction: "I started to feel like I had spent a lot of time exploring the atmospheric side of music and that ethereal, spacey stuff beyond the usual forms — I needed to get my feet back on the ground and feel connected to the Earth... I felt like the sextet and I were playing a really heavy kind of music, and I was tired of making things heavy, I wanted to play something lighter." In a way, Hancock was right to want to change and reinvent himself: however appreciated by specialist audiences and critics, those albums had earned him a reputation as a niche, inaccessible avant-garde artist — a reputation at odds with his flamboyant spirit and far removed from his ambitions and true nature. So the musician quickly reformed his group and, seized by sudden creative inspiration, using the same ingredients and tools at his disposal, created something different and unprecedented.

The prolific and restlessly inventive jazzman's new album was released before the year was out. Titled "Head Hunters", it would become not only his most successful record, but also one of the best-selling albums in the history of jazz.

The backing lineup had completely changed: only Bennie Maupin remained, on clarinet and saxophone, while on guitar and bass Paul Jackson stepped in (who also plays the marímbula, a Caribbean string instrument), Harvey Mason took over on drums, and Bill Summers handled the numerous percussion instruments, including ethnic ones. And whereas the keyboard role had previously been shared with Patrick Gleeson, combining multiple instruments, now Hancock alone filled it entirely, juggling various types of synthesizer, Rhodes piano and clavinet.

Hancock's stylistic aims show a decisive shift in his musical output. It might seem like a break with the past, but the underlying compositional approach remains; rather, it's the manner of expression and the purpose that change, as if revealing another facet of his rich creative spirit: "Head Hunters" is relaxed, with a clipped, easygoing sound. Compared to the experimental trilogy, everything here is catchier and more direct, despite tracks that are often quite long, propelled by a tireless, even danceable groove. The result is one of the most successful and natural extensions of jazz into funk territory. From the former comes the song-form structure, based on an AABA verse structure and the tendency toward long solo excursions featuring one instrument in the spotlight. From the latter come, with full mastery, the catchy feel and the distinctive rhythmic accent. Funk had already been internalized into Hancock's style for some years, in the vein of artists like Sly & The Family Stone, who are in fact directly referenced in one of the tracks, and Curtis Mayfield, but here it takes center stage. Production was handled by Hancock himself in collaboration with David Rubinson, aimed at a warm, full-bodied sound that gives vitality to the electronic instruments, with effects carefully crafted in detail.

The cover, created by Victor Moscoso, depicts a traditional kple kple mask from the Baoulé tribe of the Ivory Coast, representing the connection to the African ethnic roots of "black music" such as jazz and funk; the complementary blue and yellow coloring conveys energy and vitality, like an evening of music, dance and fun.

There are only four tracks, but they're all classics. The opening track, "Chameleon", is the immediately recognizable calling card of Hancock's style. It's hard to find a musician in the field who doesn't know it — sparkling like few others, driven by its memorable synth-bass keyboard riff, simple in execution yet unmatched in melodic taste and in the knack for finding the most intriguing combination of notes. It's a long, 15-minute suite, yet it flows smoothly and seamlessly throughout. "Chameleon" has, over time, become an extremely famous jazz standard: one of the most performed pieces on stages worldwide, covered countless times and learned by anyone setting out to play jazz and funk. It has also been sampled far and wide, in dozens of songs by the most disparate artists, especially in rap/hip-hop but not only there. Among the most famous instances are 2Pac ("Words Of Wisdom"), Frank Zappa ("Greggery Peccary"), DJ Shadow (various mixes), Ice Cube ("No Vaseline"), Public Enemy ("Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man"), and UNKLE (the intro to "Psyence Fiction"). The sheer catchiness of this track deservedly makes it one of the most celebrated tunes of the twentieth century, with a cross-generational impact comparable to that of "Smoke On The Water" for rock.

Equally famous is "Watermelon Man". It's the shortest track on the record, at "just" six and a half minutes. It's a complete rearrangement and reinterpretation of the opening track from "Takin' Off" (1962), Hancock's debut album. This new version sounds finely chiseled, delightfully irreverent, nocturnal and carefree. The breezy horns give off a sense of verve, joined by soft yet solid basslines, funky guitar riffs, delicate but decisive keyboard interjections, and small saxophone flourishes. There's a balance among the instruments, which interact and converse naturally with one another: by this point Hancock was a mature musician, fully aware of his own abilities, and while he doesn't shy away from performances that showcase his keyboard genius as absolute protagonist, many of the virtuoso flourishes of the past now give way to what feels like a small, smoky, enveloping concert. This track too has been sampled and reworked repeatedly by various artists, even more so than "Chameleon". Worth mentioning are J Dilla ("Zen Guitar"), George Michael ("Spinning The Wheel") and Madonna ("Sanctuary"), and more recently Massive Attack ("Dead Editors"). Among Italian artists, worth noting are Neffa ("Dopamina") and Frankie Hi-NRG ("Books di sangue").

"Sly" is dedicated to Sly Stone, one of the founding fathers of funk with his group Sly & the Family Stone, particularly with albums like "Stand!" from 1969, which had become a landmark at the crossroads of the genre with psychedelia and soul, and which echoes through this Hancock track. It's more forceful and gritty than the previous piece, yet still with a soft touch to the sounds. The breaks that make it up give way to an intense upbeat section dominated by the explosive saxophone and keyboard. The result is an irresistible, effervescent Afro-funk. Relatively less famous than the previous tracks, it's nonetheless present in various samples, from Nas ("You Can't Kill Me") to Keith Murray ("Media").

Finally, "Vein Melter" is the understated, long coda in which the fondness for electronics is carried by hushed, subdued notes that nonetheless open up into bold synthesizer effects. It's the most atmospheric track of the four, nocturnal and beguiling, at times visionary and psychedelic, thanks above all to the distinctive, effect-laden synthesizer textures. Its most famous sample appears in Lamb's "Gold" (from their self-titled debut).

Initially, specialist critics expressed disappointment with the sound of this record, but time has proven the Chicago pianist right: "Head Hunters" has sold millions of copies and stands as Herbie Hancock's most seminal and successful record, one that would influence generations of funk musicians and beyond, as evidenced by its impact on the genesis of hip-hop and on numerous artists who have taken apart and reassembled its stylistic elements, through sampling, sonic "patchwork" (plunderphonics), or simple sonic inspiration. Its influence would also touch disco, acid-jazz, nu-jazz and trip-hop artists, but above all it would prove decisive for the world of jazz-funk, which from then on would measure itself against this album, taking it as a model for melodic taste, expressive technique and compositional balance. It's no exaggeration to say there's a before and an after "Head Hunters" for the genre, as is the case for many other albums that became the defining touchstone of their field.

In his later discography, Hancock would go on to explore funk territory further, before delving even deeper into electronics. Amid ups and downs, alternating excellent albums with less successful ones, he didn't shy away from more commercial releases either, though these didn't achieve the same level of success, while also collaborating with artists of the caliber of Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis and Chick Corea. In 1974 came "Thrust", a worthy follow-up to "Head Hunters", though more focused on delving into electronic instrumentation and slightly less immediate. The group without Hancock, meanwhile, billed as "The Headhunters", would release "Survival Of The Fittest" the following year and "Straight From The Gate" in 1977, before returning to the studio only twenty years later.

Contributions by Emanuele Pavia and Maria Teresa Soldani

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14/02/2021