Head Hunters

Head Hunters is the twelfth studio album by American pianist, keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock, released October 26, 1973, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the evening at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur Trading Co. in San Francisco, California. Hancock is featured with woodwind player Bennie Maupin from his previous "Mwandishi" sextet and three new collaborators – bassist Paul Jackson, percussionist Bill Summers, and drummer Harvey Mason. The latter group of collaborators, which would go on to be known as the Headhunters, also played on Hancock's subsequent studio album Thrust (1974). All of the musicians (with the exception of Mason) play multiple instruments on the album. The album was a commercial and artistic breakthrough for Hancock, crossing over to funk and rock audiences and bringing jazz-funk and jazz fusion to mainstream attention, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard 200. Today the album is regarded as a landmark of fusion and has influenced artists in numerous other genres. In 2008, the Library of Congress inducted it into the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically important".