''Man-Child'' is the fifteenth studio album by jazz pianist

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

. The record was released on August 22, 1975 by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. It was the final studio album to feature

The Headhunters The Headhunters are an American jazz fusion band formed by Herbie Hancock in 1973. The group fused jazz, funk, and rock music. History (and name) Hancock had grown dissatisfied with his prior band, Mwandishi, and wanted to make a band with a st ...

, and a number of guest musicians including saxophonist

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davi ...

, a full brass section, three different guitarists (including DeWayne McKnight), and

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

on harmonica.

Overview

It is arguably one of his most

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

-influenced albums and it represents his further departure from the "spacey, higher atmosphere jazz," as he referred to it, of his earlier career. Hancock uses more funk based rhythms around the

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...

, and

snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...

. The tracks are characterized by short, repeated riffs by both the rhythm section, horns accompaniment, and bass lines. ''Man-Child'' features less improvisation from the whole band and more concentrated grooves with brief solos from the horns and Hancock himself on

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

piano on top of the repeated riffs. This album features the addition of

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

to his new sound, which he started only five years prior to this album with '' Fat Albert Rotunda''. The guitarists featured on this album were

Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin Melvin M. Ragin (December 8, 1950 – October 24, 2018), known professionally as "Wah Wah Watson", was an American guitarist who was a member of The Funk Brothers, the studio band for Motown Records. Career A native of Richmond, Virginia, Melvin ...

DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight DeWayne Stephen "Blackbyrd" McKnight (born April 17, 1954) is an American guitarist. He was a member of The Headhunters, a jazz-funk fusion band from 1975 through 1978 and Parliament-Funkadelic from 1978 through 2008. He served briefly as gui ...

and

David T. Walker David T. Walker (born June 25, 1941) is an American guitarist, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to numerous session musician duties since the early 1970s, Walker has issued fifteen albums in his own name. Career David T. Walker was born to ...

. Their extensive use of wah-wah pedal and accenting chords on the up-beat rather than the down-beat is what helps to give the album a distinct and funkier rhythm that is broken up by brief periods of stop-time where only the sustained chords are heard from the electric guitar with an open

wah pedal A wah-wah pedal, or simply wah pedal, is a type of electric guitar effects pedal that alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah". The ped ...

. The riffs are fast-paced and energetic with repeating patterns that combine with multiple voices (i.e. horns, piano, bass, synthesizer, guitar and drums and percussion). The horn section in "Hang Up Your Hang-Ups" plays repeated riffs in unison that alternate with and are answered by electric piano, synthesizer, and electric guitar in brief periods of call and response. Paul Jackson, Bill Summers, Harvey Mason, Bennie Maupin, and Mike Clark (who replaced Harvey Mason post-1974) formed the core of the group

the Headhunters The Headhunters are an American jazz fusion band formed by Herbie Hancock in 1973. The group fused jazz, funk, and rock music. History (and name) Hancock had grown dissatisfied with his prior band, Mwandishi, and wanted to make a band with a st ...

with which Hancock had toured and recorded for the previous three years. This was their final album as a group.

Track listing

Personnel

* Herbie Hancock – acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, ARP Odyssey, ARP Pro Soloist, ARP 2600, and ARP String Ensemble

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, Hohner D6 clavinet, Oberheim Polyphonic synthesizer *

Bud Brisbois Austin Dean "Bud" Brisbois (April 11, 1937 – June 1978) was a jazz and studio trumpeter. He played jazz, pop, rock, country, Motown, and classical music. Career Brisbois was born in Edina, Minnesota and began studying the trumpet at age 12. ...

– trumpet * Jay DaVersa – trumpet * Garnett Brown – trombone * Dick Hyde – tuba, bass trombone *

– soprano saxophone *

Bennie Maupin Bennie Maupin (born August 29, 1940) is an American jazz multireedist who performs on various saxophones, flute, and bass clarinet. Maupin was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He is known for his participation in Herbie Hancock's Mwandi ...

– soprano and tenor saxophones, saxello, bass clarinet, bass and alto flutes *

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...

– saxophones and flutes *

Ernie Watts Ernest James Watts (born October 23, 1945) is an American jazz and rhythm and blues saxophonist who plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone. He has worked with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and toured with the Rolling Stones. On Frank Zappa's ...

– saxophones and flutes * Dewayne McKnight,

– guitar *

Wah Wah Watson Melvin M. Ragin (December 8, 1950 – October 24, 2018), known professionally as "Wah Wah Watson", was an American guitarist who was a member of The Funk Brothers, the studio band for Motown Records. Career A native of Richmond, Virginia, Melvi ...

– guitar, voice bag, Maestro Universal Synthesizer System, Maestro Sample and Hold Unit * Henry E. Davis – bass guitar * Paul Jackson – bass guitar * Louis Johnson – bass guitar * Mike Clark – drums *

James Gadson James Gadson ( James Edward Gadson; born June 17, 1939) is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B. He is also a singer and ...

– drums *

Harvey Mason Harvey William Mason (born February 22, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, record producer, and member of the band Fourplay. Mason, who attended Berklee in the 1960s, received an Honorary Doctorate at Berklee's 2015 Commencement Ceremony for ...

– drums *

– harmonica *

Bill Summers Bill Summers may refer to: * Bill Summers (car builder) (1935–2011), American car builder and longtime speed record holder * Bill Summers (musician) (born 1948), American jazz percussionist *Bill Summers (umpire) William Reed Summers (November ...

– percussion

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Man-Child 1975 albums Columbia Records albums Herbie Hancock albums Albums produced by Dave Rubinson Albums recorded at Wally Heider Studios