Return of Funk Jazz [Import]

Return of Funk Jazz [Import]

ASIN: B0000BHOG2

Track Listings

1. Main Squeeze

2. Big Mac

3. Sweet Life

4. Dig On It

5. You've Made Me So Very Happy

6. Joyful, Joyful

7. Plauhouse

8. Psychedelic Sally

9. Fat Cakes

10. Thank You

11. Backwoods Sideman

12. I Wanna Be Where You Are

13. Bug Out

14. Chameleon

15. Super Funk

16. Cisco Kid

17. What's Going On

18. I Want To Make It With You

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Japanese original compilation featuring 9 tracks previously unavailable elsewhere. Also features exclusive cover art.

Tracks:

Funk Hunter
Skank It
Watch Your Back
Frankie And Kevin
Premonition
Tip Toe
Two But Not Two
PP Head
Kwanzaa
6/8 - 7/8

Amazon.com

Back in the mid-'70s, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters were making some of the funkiest fusion around. The band (like Weather Report and Return to Forever) was a prime exponent of post-Miles Davis electric jazz. Now, two decades after the fact, the original Headhunters are back. While Hancock is only a "special guest" on this recording, saxophonist Bennie Maupin, percussionist Bill Summers, bassist Paul Jackson, and drummer Mike Clark keep their jazz-fusion flame burning brightly. Besides one contemporary rap tune and two soulful vocals by N'Dea Davenport, this music displays much of the band's original excitement and experimental nature. With veteran pianist Billy Childs subbing for Hancock on half the tunes, The Headhunters still achieve a consistent and creative sound. --Mitch Myers

Customer Reviews:

GOOD SOLID RELEASE ! .......2006-10-05

Best production/recording values of ANY Headhunters release to date. Second best creative effort of any Headhunters release to date: "Survival.." was OUT THERE... like Hancock's Sextet albums(Mwandishi, Sextant, Crossings.. put Julian Priester's "Love, Love" and Maupin's "Jewel Of The Lotus" in there, too!. I also like Henderson's "Sunburst" a lot, but it's different, more like Cannonball Adderly). I digress... "Return.." is a FUNK SATISFACTION album. Not a ton of spacy stuff like "Survival..", but some. Lots of Jackson and Maupin streatching out the not-so-commercial grooves into something more. Lots of solid pieces/performances. I miss Blackbird's crazy distorted guitar solos (which show up on the album "Straight From The Gate"). Also I gotta note, POSITIVE VIBES! These are happy people playing this music!
Overall this is a good solid release. as an ol'fan I'm very pleased with it.

A headhunter sound.......2006-03-19

It's Headhunters. In the 70's or in the 90's this band has a unique sound, no matter the recording production or technology. This recording was produced in 1997 with an evident "near" acid jazz sound, but it's still a master on the game. It seems that many people wants to hear Chameleon or Watermelon Man over and over again instead of listening the return of a legendary group who aquired more experience with the pass of years. I'm a consumer of acid jazz and I can assure this album overpasses every band I know in the genre, simply because you have real musicians doing what they do best: jazz funk fusion. Songs have all the Headhunters trademarks, like bass-clarinet, all type of percussion, beer-bottle flutes, killer bass grooves and rhodes pianos :). Of course, you must add the amazing keyboard runs of Mr. Hands, which appears on some tracks.
Hey, this CD is awesome.

Holds its own with any other of the genre.......2006-03-11

Looking back on the original Headhunters and Thrust albums, they were seminal to the smooth jazz movement. This album breaks no new ground, but still compares favorably to groups like Yellowjackets and Groove Collective. No one can play like Herbie, even though he was probably rusty on the synth after being back to straight jazz piano. N'Dea Davenport doesn't shine like she did with the Heavies, but she still sounds good. Musicians like variety..that's why their fans are often disappointed when they don't want to revisit old ground.

This is killer fusion.......2003-08-28

This is some killer fusion, starting it off with "Funk Hunter". Great funk styles here with everyone. The overdubbed bass licks from Paul Jackson to the solid drumming of Mike Clarke. It appears that most people are unreasonably hard on this project by comparing it to the original "Headhunters" recording released approx. twenty years earlier.
Come on folks, this is a great release for the nineties in the midst of all the hiphop dance music and the grunge sounds too. I honestly thought the "Return of the Headhunters" was released sometime in the later seventies. I was pleasantly surprised to see it was released in 98'. Bennie Maupin's horn work is fantastic. And there is no problem telling what tracks Herbie Hancock plays on as well.
It is nice to hear that Fusion is still being played this way and that these musicians still have the feel and chop to this style of jazz. I study this recording religiously every time I hear it. It never fails me, EVER! Enjoy!

Can't understand these bad reviews.......2003-06-13

Hey guys, can't you judge a thing for what it is? Do you have always to compare a thing to another one to have an idea about it? What kind of approach is it? Moreover different things are not comparable. Like this band and the first HH band. The first headhunters was a certain band. It came out in a a certain period when there was a some kind of electricity around. The idea of mixing jazz and funk was the new idea (Miles Davis did it a lot too) and the electronic instruments were the new things to put to torture test. C'mon. This is a completly different project for a completly different time. 1998 was not 1972! This album should be judged only for what it is. It is greatlyproduced smooth jazz-funk with great musicians involved and good atmospheres and songs. Good sounds too. N'dea Davenport is a great singer. She proved it here well. There is also space for some improvisation like in Premonition. I have the old HH records and this one. I appreciate both but I don't compare them. I enjoy both for their diversities. Why choose?

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