Herbie Hancock

Head Hunters is the twelfth studio album by the American pianist and composer Herbie Hancock. Recording sessions for the album took place during evening at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur Trading Co. in San Francisco, California. Head Hunters is a key release in Hancock's career and a defining moment in the genre of jazz. In 2003, the album was ranked number 498 in the book version of Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2007, the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry, which collects "culturally, historically or aesthetically important" sound recordings from the 20th century.

This release includes Herbie Hancock's music from 1969-1971 for the Warner Brothers label, released originally as three albums, one of Herbie Hancock's most creative periods. The earliest album, Fat Albert Rotunda, features a fine sextet highlighted by tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, like Hancock a master at maintaining strong rhythmic grooves while stretching outward. The later music, with a regularly working band, becomes increasingly expansive and exploratory. Like Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, Hancock was increasingly interested in layering rhythms and textures, emphasizing percussion, electric keyboards, and potent soloists, and broadening his palette of sounds to eventually include synthesizers.

V.S.O.P. is a 1977 double live album by pianist and keyboard player Herbie Hancock, featuring acoustic jazz performances by the V.S.O.P. Quintet (Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams), and jazz fusion and jazz-funk performances by the Mwandishi band (with Eddie Henderson) and The Headhunters (featuring Bennie Maupin and Paul Jackson).

Thrust is a jazz-funk album by Herbie Hancock, released in September 6, 1974 on Columbia Records. It served as a follow-up to Hancock's album Head Hunters (1973), and achieved similar commercial success, as the album reached as high as number 13 on the Billboard 200 listing. The lineup for Thrust is the same as on Head Hunters, except that Mike Clark replaced Harvey Mason on drums. This is Hancock's fourteenth album overall.

"Future Shock" is pianist Herbie Hancock's thirty-fifth album and a million-selling Platinum-certified disc. It was Hancock's first release from his electro-funk era and an early example of instrumental hip hop. Much of the album was initially composed by the team of avant-garde bassist and record producer Bill Laswell, and keyboardist and producer Michael Beinhorn, and played on tour by their group Material in 1982.

Maiden Voyage is the fifth album led by jazz musician Herbie Hancock, and was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder on March 17, 1965 for Blue Note Records. It was issued as BLP 4195 and BST 84195. It is a concept album aimed at creating an oceanic atmosphere. Many of the track titles refer to marine biology or the sea, and the musicians develop the concept through their use of space and almost tidal dynamics. The album was presented with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.

An incredible record - and virtually the blueprint for countless other keyboard records to come! At the height of his 70s powers, Herbie really takes off into space with this set - moving away from more commercial music, and hitting a groove that's totally righteous, totally electric, and completely mindblowing! The album's got a bit of a Headhunters vibe, but it also veers off into some very wild analogue electronics too - a mix of Fender Rhodes, clavinet, melotron, and echoplex processing - augmented by additional work on Arp from Patrick Gleeson. Other players on the set include Bennie Maupin on reeds, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Julian Priester on trombone, Buster Williams on bass, and Billy Hart on drums, and the great Buck Clarke rounds out the combo on percussion.

"Sextant" is Herbie Hancock’s 1973 masterpiece. The recording is his final album with his Mwandishi Band. The musicians perform a brilliant set that includes the standouts, “Rain Dance,” “Hidden Shadows” and “Hornets”. The compositions are complex and rhythmically challenging. This electric, fusion-based work reached #3 on Billboard’s Top Jazz albums.

Released in 1994, "Dis Is da Drum" is Herbie Hancock's 39th studio album and his first solo album after leaving Columbia Records. Tracks like "Bo Ba Be Da" and "Dis Is da Drum" reflect Hancock's move towards acid jazz, while "Butterfly" makes a fourth appearance on a Hancock album following the original album (Thrust), a live album (Flood), and another studio album (Direct Step).

This is one of the more unexpected releases in Herbie Hancock's long and storied career. While Hancock has done just about everything, and has previously incorporated African influences in his early electric work (think Mwandishi and Crossings), no one anticipated this beautiful, moving work of Afro-Pop. Paired with kora master Foday Musa Suso, Hancock improvises with aplomb melding what was then state-of-the-art digital keyboard technology with traditional instrumentation and vocals.