The Headhunters

The Headhunters
Herbie Hancock and The Headhunters in 1975
Background information
Origin	United States of America
Genres	Jazz fusion
Years active	1973–present
Labels	Columbia, Verve Forecast, Basin Street, P-Vine, Owl Studios
Past members	Herbie Hancock Bennie Maupin Paul Jackson Harvey Mason Bill Summers Mike Clark DeWayne McKnight Wah Wah Watson

The Headhunters are an American jazz fusion band formed by Herbie Hancock in 1973. The group fused jazz, funk, and rock music.

Hancock had grown dissatisfied with his prior band, Mwandishi, and wanted to make a band with a stronger funk component.^[1] He chose the name of the group, "Headhunters", while doing Buddhist chanting.^[1] The name pleased him because it made a triple reference to the jungle, to intellectual concerns, and to sexual activity.^[1]

In 1973, the band comprised Hancock (keyboards), Bennie Maupin (saxophone, clarinet), Harvey Mason (drums), Paul Jackson (bass), and Bill Summers (percussion). Their first album, Head Hunters, sold more than one million copies.^[2]

• The Headhunters on AllMusic
• The Headhunters on discogs
• "The Headhunters". NNDB.
• Pond, Steven F. (2005). Head Hunters: the Making of Jazz's First Platinum Album / by Steven F. Pond. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472034482.