What the funk is this‽

Right from the first listen, this has jumped into my personal top five albums from this project, and probably the top three. It's a total mind virus; I've been listening to it every day since. Once you have the opening lick in your eardrums, it's all over. There is simply no escaping it.

I don't have any particularly intelligent analysis (as usual); all there is to say is that the vibes here are immaculate. "Chameleon" makes me want to stalk around Manhattan at 2 a.m. "Watermelon Man" makes me want to drive around like that old 3D Gorillaz game (video). "Sly" makes me want to frantically scramble to evade the police. "Vein Melter" makes me want to… actually I'm not sure; that one's pretty chill.

I had never heard of Hancock before this, which is impressive, given that he's accomplished pretty much everything there is for a musician to accomplish. A quick sampler of some of his laurels: personally scouted by Miles Davis for his "Second Great Quintet;" 14 Grammys (including Album of the Year); and an Oscar for Best Original Score. No lack of commercial success either: Wikipedia claims (albeit without citation) that Head Hunters was the best-selling jazz album ever until Breezin' (by George Benson) came along. Plus, he made a nice chunk of change recording jingles for all kinds of TV commercials, and he composed the theme for a Fat Albert special. But he isn't a commercial sellout either: Hancock was (and continues to be) chairman of the "Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz" for so long that they decided to just rename it the "Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz" instead.¹

This album is arguably our first glimpse into jazz fusion: the extended solos and general structure are reminiscent of the jazz we've heard so far, but the instrumentation (especially the heavy focus on synthesizers/electric piano) and general funkiness are a new twist, and I am 100% here for it. And can I just say: fusion anything is obviously always going to be better than the original. It's practically so by definition—take the best parts of multiple things and stick them together—how could that not be better than what you started with? French fries in my falafel wrap? Synthesizers in my jazz? Yep, a double helping of each please. FUSE IT!

Favourite track: Chameleon