Herbie Hancock emerged from the mines of jazz having busted his chops for various bands, as the leader or a supporting player(most notably, of course, with Miles Davis). He had released albums before but he was about to try something different with the 1973 Head Hunters(the name of the album and his band). Others had tread this ground before but none had near the commercial success.

There aren't many jazz albums that go platinum. When a jazz fan notes that the best selling "jazz" albums tend to be by artists like Kenny G, he can see that the pickings are slim. Not only is this one of the few and the proud but it was the FIRST jazz album to go platinum. That's a heavy chip. How does this hold up?

Quite well, I think. This album can be at once laid back and intense, a melding of funk and jazz. It almost has a beat you could dance to if it didn't keep disappearing on you. Like the jazz of the period, it tended to lack a very defined structure. But Herbie added funk elements and African influences to this, creating something both free and constrained.

We kick off with Chameleon's distinctive bass line, accomplished with an ARP Odyssey synthesizer. Drums are quickly brought in to add a little substance to the beat whilst various instruments solo over this. The edges are smoothed out, the band members are kept from running away with themselves, and it all has a polished feel to it. This is much more accessible than some of the furiously dense albums out there like Davis's Live Evil. To some hardcore fusion fans this could be taken as a negative. Sometime after the seven minute mark we lose the synth beat. In keeping with Hancock's exploration of an earthy, grounded feel, as well as cyclical rhythm, it reappears in five minutes to take us on to the end. This is perhaps the high-light of the album, though my personal favorite is yet to come.

Then we move into Watermelon Man. This song bears no resemblance to the original version, which is fairly standard bop. It starts off with various tribalish noises (such as Bill Summers blowing on a beer bottle) and vocalizings which die out as an alto flute enters the scene. This song is not as solidly rhythmic as Chameleon but it is far shorter. It has some nice sax work, as well as electric bass. Some will find the flutes annoying but I think it adds quite a lot to the flavor of the song. Watermelon Man ain't filler by any means but it IS sandwiched between two great songs, so it can get lost in the middle.

Which leads us to the "second side" and Sly, my favorite. It starts off with a sax and drums laying down some notes while Hancock fills the spaces inbetween. The sax is at center stage for a time, laying down solo over a funkified beat. This song is faster and heavier than what has come so far, with polyrhythms and synthesizers duking it out in a delightful fever, yet it still manages to seem laid-back after a fashion. There is less funk here and more jazz. It approaches the edge a few times, with solos that almost begin to bore but manages to save itself in the nick of time. Much like Chameleon, it runs in a cycle. The beginning fades out only to show up to end it all.

Sly segues perfectly into what I believe to be the weakest point of the album. Vein Melter is not bad, it simply seems out of place. It lacks the funky, groovy, catchy sound of the previous songs. It is a slow moving, noodling tune that could cool your veins. Melt 'em though? Hardly. There is definately a nice, low harmony here but it never takes off. It ends the album on an odd, spacey note.

This would be a great album to introduce yourself to jazz fusion, which can be nigh unlistenable the first time. And the second. And the third. Even if your interest in the genre never kicks off, this is an excellent album in its own right. Any serious music lover should give this a try, at least.