The Headhunters - Musical Style and Influences

Musical Style and Influences

The Headhunters' music is a complex blend of many styles and genres, including jazz, funk, African and Afro-Caribbean music. The group is also notable for its pioneering use of electronic instruments and effects.

In the sleeve notes to Head Hunters, Herbie Hancock confirms that track 3, "Sly," is named in tribute to Sly Stone, leader of Sly & the Family Stone. This band, along with James Brown are one of the key influences from funk music. As in funk music, the band often built a groove around a bassline; Paul Jackson's deceptively simple licks are frequently the bedrock of Headhunters material, as much as Mike Clark and Harvey Mason's iconic inimitable drumming ("Chameleon", the famous opening track of Head Hunters, provides a fine example of this, although in this case the main bassline is played by Hancock.) Also taken from funk music is the technique of building a complex groove by combining many small but carefully interlocking, syncopated contributions.

While straightforward funk depends on a snappy, danceable backbeat from the drummer, Mike Clark and Paul Jackson's innovative interplay danced in and around the groove motif, creating some advanced and complex rhythmic patterns that put them on the map and in the history books. This is arguably best exemplified by the music on Thrust, particularly on the song "Actual Proof", Mike Clark has established himself as a true innovator of linear style drumming, incorporating jazz and funk. Clark and Jackson's intro to their song "God Make Me Funky" is one of the most sampled pieces in hip hop music.

Early editions of the Headhunters were notable for the absence of a guitarist. All guitar-like parts were handled by Herbie Hancock on his first two albums with the group, with one exception: The "rhythm guitar" heard interacting with Hancock's synthesizer bass early in the track Chameleon is actually Paul Jackson playing in the upper register of the bass guitar, as pointed out by Steven F. Pond in his book Head Hunters (2005). Electric guitars were first introduced when DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight appeared on Survival of the Fittest.

Although the Headhunters' albums were often belittled as "pop" by purist jazz critics at the time, it is now widely accepted that they were significantly influenced by, and made a significant contribution to, the "serious jazz" canon. Their music featured extensive solo and group improvisation over chord progressions, just as in the jazz mainstream. Most of the overtly jazz-influenced material comes in the form of solos from Herbie Hancock and Bennie Maupin.

A strong connection to African music is evident, with the role of percussion hugely enhanced compared to mainstream jazz, and more extensive exploration of complex polyrhythms compared to most funk.

The Headhunters are also notable for the unusually wide range of instruments they use. Hancock used a myriad of keyboards, from the staple Fender Rhodes electric piano to the Hohner clavinet, as well as being an early adopter of synthesizers, particularly instruments from ARP. Maupin used bass, tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet and bass flute, and oddities such as the Saxello and Lyricon. Unusual choices like beer bottles and the Voice Bag also featured in their instrumentation.