Jon's Globaloria Blog: January 2011

Quick Synopsis of the Album:

Head Hunters is the 12^th studio album by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock. It was released on October 13, 1973 by Columbia Records. The sessions for the album took place during September 1973 at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur Trading Co. in San Francisco, California. Head Hunters (album) is a key release in Hancock's career and a defining moment in the genre of jazz fusion.

Quick Fact:

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.

Quote Concerning Head Hunters (album):

"I began to feel that I had been spending so much time exploring the upper atmosphere of music and the more ethereal kind of far-out spacey stuff. Now there was this need to take some more of the earth and to feel a little more tethered; a connection to the earth....I was beginning to feel that we (the sextet) were playing this heavy kind of music, and I was tired of everything being heavy. I wanted to play something lighter." (Hancock's sleeve notes: 1997 CD reissue)

The Cover Image on the Album:

The image on the album cover is based on an African mask that is associated with the Baoulé tribe from Côte d'Ivoire. They have various types of masks known as Goli that have to be considered a family. Their presence is called upon in times of danger, during epidemics or at funeral ceremonies. The image also resembles the tape head demagnetizer used on reel-to-reel audio tape recording equipment at the time of this recording.

Tracks on Head Hunters (album):

Side A