SATCHMO

A few pages back I wrote a fairly long dissertation on Jazz fusion, Particularly regarding how the term itself is essentially a misnomer. Looking back on that essay I have to say that what i wrote is only partially right. Jazz fusion is, typically, the fusion of rock and jazz, but just like when you mix blue and yellow you dont' get blue-yellow, when you mix jazz and rock you don't get jazz rock, at least not in the way it was approached in the early 70's when it was pioneered.

There were several factors at play in the late 60's/early 70's when jazz musicians were beginning to experiment with the rock dynamic. Firstly, and probably most importantly jazz was dying, and it wasn't an unforeseen demise. Since the late 50's rock n' roll's influence on American culture was growing exponentially. At first there was reason to believe that the two genres would peacefully coexist and cater to different demographics, but rock's increasing popularity grew to such an extent that all but the hardcore jazz aficionados were losing interest. This had a tremendous impact on record sales and for record labels that represented exclusively jazz artists like Prestige and Blue Note this meant bankruptcy or worse.

In addition to this, the growing genres of rock, soul, and funk were beginning to have a creative influence on the jazz musicians who were definitely paying attention. Advances in recording technology such as overdubbing and multi-track recording, just to name a few, were opening up new possibilities for creative experimentation. And the advances in instrument technology and amplification paved avenues of creative expression that some musicians could only have dreamed of a few short years earlier.

Superficially it is the latter, the instrumentation, that we think of when we think of jazz fusion. The electric guitar had been a staple of jazz for 20 years before the advent of fusion, but there were now musicians in other genres, such as Jimi Hendrix who were pushing the envelope of what was possible with the electric guitar as a melodic instrument. Electric basses no longer upright and encumbering afforded bassists a degree of dexterity and ergonomics not known before. Combined with respective amplification this meant that bassists could both groove melodically and be heard in the mix. New head materials and the increasing popularity of hugely expanded drum sets opened up new possibilities for jazz drummers to play elaborate beats and fills that were once impossible with the standard 3-6 piece jazz kit. Jazz Drummers were trading in their wire brushes for hickory sticks and approaching their craft with a level of assertiveness and technical expression that was unprecedented. Anyone who's ever listened to a Billy Cobham record can attest to the fact that the man makes Neil Peart sound like Ringo Star. But nowhere was the advancement in instrument technology more present than in the world of Keyboard instruments.

Up until this point the acoustic piano and the Hammond B3 Organ had been the only keyboard instrument utilized in jazz and the B3 had seen its advent in the late 50's with such masters as Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff. It wasn't until the creation of the Fender Rhodes electric piano, introduced in 1959, and the Hohner D6 Clavinet introduced in 1968, and the new and exciting analog mini-synth the Moog ARP Odyssey introduced around 1972 that new and different possibilies could be explored with the piano timbre. All three of these keyed instruments opened up new timbres for piano players to express themselves musically through alternate avenues. These three instruments were already beginning to manifest their new and unusual sounds in the corresponding rock genre. Keyboardist Donald fagen was wowing the world with the lush and chime-like tones of the Fender Rhodes on Steely Dan hit Do it Again, Stevie Wonder was busting out the funk with the Clavinet which he made famous with the repetitious riff in Superstitious and Rick Wakeman was bringing a new exotic and extraterrestrial sound to audiences with All Good People. But somewhere off in the jazz world a perennial and seasoned veteran piano player was experimenting with all three.

In a way Herbie Hancock's reputation as a Jazz pianist is a little tricky. His best known works in the public eye are those albums that he contributed to the area of jazz fusion and, later, his attempts at fusing jazz with electronic music which led to his insanely popular breakdancing hit Rockit. However one look at Hancock's discography shows us that he's been one of the most consistent musicians throughout the progressive course of jazz history. Even In my own preliminary research for this write up was shocked to see that Herbie Hancock will be turning 70 this year! Truth be told, this man has had an amazing career with just over 60 albums in his discography alone. This doesn't include appearances on other musician's albums, as well as his five year stint with The Miles Davis Quintet from 1963-1968. Yet Despite such a rich and diverse career Herbie Hancock is best remembered for two traditional classic Jazz albums, Empyrean Isles and Maiden Voyage, his chart topping album Futureshock, the forementioned experiment with blending Jazz and electro, and this album which took jazz and bumped it up against the infectious grooves of the burgeoning new genre of funk.

Released in 1973, Head Hunters was really a reactive response to Miles Davis' own pioneering fusion album Bitches Brew. While Bitches Brew brought to the table an eclectic and esoteric sound that used much of the same electric instrumentation that Head hunters did, Herbie took the element In a much different and seemingly less progressive direction by making an album less conceptual in scope, less complex, and a whole lot funkier. Of the three Keyboard instruments mentioned above - The Fender Rhodes, The Clavinet, and the ARP odyssey, Herbie implemented all three and in a way that was blatantly more bold and dynamic than Joe Zawinul's ethereal and atmospheric electric piano stylings on Bitches Brew. What you have in this ambitious 4 song album is Jazz fusion taking a turn in a completely new direction.

The album starts out with Chameleon and one of Fusion's most memorable and catchy synthetic bass lines played by Herbie on the Odyssey bringing the groove into the arena. this song builds upon itself getting more and more into the groove progressively measure by measure with Herbie pushing out leads on the Clavinet and the synth exposing the ear to a multitude of bizarre but complimentary sounds until, halfway through the song, the beat and the overall theme changes abruptly breaking into a Latin inspired eclecticism with Herbie presenting one of the most beautiful electric piano solos ever eventually leading the ensemble back to the original groove to fadeout.
Watermelon Man starts out in a strange conglomeration of loop-like sounds including saxaphone player Bernie Maupin bringing out a repetitious rhythm played by blowing on the lip of a beer bottle. Eventually this breaks into a slow and smooth jazz funk beat and the collage of sounds at the beginning is reintroduce into the song toward the end.
Sly continues the overall theme of the album while turning on a dime to present some Latin based percussion by rhythm section Bill summers on Drums and Harvey Mason on percussion. Herbie mirrors this beat by slapping out rhythms on the clavinet while simultaneously utilizing the Fender Rhodes to trade off solos with Saxophonist Bernie Maupin who delivers his own intense free-form soloing throughout the song.
The album finishes with the slowed down bluesy feel of Vein Matter, The only real hint of introspection on the Album. This is the track that draws comparison's to Bitches Brew more specifically to the track Miles Runs the Voodoo down. Herbie defers to playing accents on the Clavinet and atmospheric synth pads, with the exceptional but brief and understated electric piano solo. Maupin tones down his intensity on the sax as well and delivers a ballad like performance that wavers between bluesy and ethereal at different points during the song.

This album, although not breaking into the mainstream of media savvy music the way that his later release futureshock did, is a staple of the all important transitory decade that the 70's were for many genre's of contemporary music. For any concerned about this song only being 4 songs I should state that the album clocks in at just over 40 minutes with the opening track alone extending over 15 minutes. The Irony is that this is just the tip of the iceberg of the career of a musician that does not receive nearly the credit he deserves for both being a jazz pioneer in general and introducing to beautiful yet divergent styles of music to each other.