The Headhunters was an American jazz fusion band formed by Herbie Hancock in 1973. The group fused jazz, funk, and rock music.
History and band name
Hancock had grown dissatisfied with his prior band, Mwandishi, and wanted to make a band with a stronger funk component. He chose the name of the group, "Headhunters", while doing Buddhist chanting.
Discography
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" |Year
! rowspan="2" style="width:13em;" | Album
! rowspan="2" style="width:16em;" | Label
! colspan="3" | Peak chart positions
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
! width="40"| US
! width="40"| US <br />Jazz<br /><small>(Trad)</small>
! width="40"| US <br />Jazz<br /><small>(Cont)</small>
|-
|1973
| scope="row" | Head Hunters <br><small>(Herbie Hancock album)</small>
|Columbia
| 21
| —
| —
|-
|1974
| scope="row" | Thrust <br><small>(Herbie Hancock album)</small>
|Columbia
| —
| —
|—
|-
|1975
| scope="row" | Flood <br><small>(live album with Herbie Hancock)</small>
| CBS/Sony
| —
| —
|—
|-
|1975
| scope="row" | Man-Child <br><small>(Herbie Hancock album)</small>
|Columbia
| —
| —
| —
|-
|1975
|Survival of the Fittest
|Arista
|126
|12
|—
|-
|1977
| scope="row" | Straight from the Gate
| Arista
| —
| —
|—
|-
|1998
|Return of the Headhunters! <small>(with Herbie Hancock)</small>
|Verve
|—
|—
|9
|-
|2003
|Evolution Revolution
|Basin Street
|—
|—
|—
|-
|2008
|On Top: Live From Europe
|BHM Productions
|—
|—
|—
|-
|2011
| scope="row" | Platinum
| Owl Studios
| —
| —
|—
|-
|2022
|Speakers In The House
|Ropeadope
|—
|—
|—
|-
|2023
|Live from Brooklyn Bowl
|Ropeadope
|—
|—
|—
|-
|2024
|The Stunt Man
|Ropeadope
|—
|—
|—
|-
|
| colspan="5" style="font-size:8pt" | "—" denotes releases that did not chart
|-
|}
Chronology
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:17
PlotArea = left:120 bottom:60 top:5 right:10
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1973 till:18/05/2023
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1974
ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1973
Colors =
id:clav value:purple legend:Keyboards
id:saxo value:gray(0.5) legend:Saxophone
id:bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:perc value:claret legend:Percussion
id:drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:lguitar value:green legend:Guitar
id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_album
id:Lines2 value:gray(0.75) legend:Live_album
id:bars value:gray(0.93)
BackgroundColors = bars:bars
BarData =
bar:Herbie text:"Herbie Hancock"
bar:Bennie text:"Bennie Maupin"
bar:Paul text:"Paul Jackson"
bar:Mike text:"Mike Clark"
bar:Harvey text:"Harvey Mason"
bar:Bill text:"Bill Summers"
bar:DeWayne text:"DeWayne McKight"
bar:WahWah text:"Wah Wah Watson"
PlotData=
width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
bar:Herbie from:01/01/1973 till:01/01/1975 color:clav
bar:Herbie from:01/08/1997 till:01/06/1998 color:clav
bar:Bennie from:01/01/1973 till:01/01/2003 color:saxo
bar:Paul from:01/01/1973 till:01/12/2003 color:bass
bar:Mike from:01/01/1974 till:end Color:drums
bar:Harvey from:01/01/1973 till:01/06/1973 Color:drums
bar:Harvey from:01/08/1974 till:01/05/1975 Color:drums
bar:Bill from:15/09/1973 till:end color:perc
bar:DeWayne from:09/05/1992 till:01/04/1993 Color:lguitar
bar:WahWah from:01/04/1993 till:01/08/1993 Color:lguitar
LineData =
at:01/01/1973 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/1974 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/1975 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/1975 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/1975 color:black layer:back
at:16/08/1978 color:black layer:back
at:29/09/1998 color:black layer:back
at:16/08/2003 color:black layer:back
at:24/09/2008 color:lines2 layer:back
at:12/09/2009 color:lines2 layer:back
at:08/06/2011 color:black layer:back
at:09/07/2012 color:black layer:back
at:17/11/2022 color:black layer:back
</timeline>
References
External links
- The Headhunters on AllMusic
- The Headhunters on discogs