3. Watermelon Man
4. Watermelon Man
“Watermelon Man” is one of Herbie Hancock’s most famous early compositions. It was featured on his debut album as a bandleader (Takin’ Off) in 1962. It is a very good example of the hard bop style. Try to familiarize yourself with the piece as you listen; try to keep track of the form and structure of the piece.
After playing in some of Miles Davis’s experiments with jazz fusion, Herbie Hancock started a new band that dove in, head first, with trying new things in the world of jazz fusion. This band came to be called Head Hunters. His first album with this band was released as a Herbie Hancock album, but was titled Head Hunters. One of the pieces featured on this album was a reworking of his classic song “Watermelon Man.” But, this version is very different from the original. As you listen, see if you can recognize anything from the 1962 version.
Compare these two versions of “Watermelon Man.” What is the same? What is different?
These examples do a good job of displaying the overall “ethos” of early jazz fusion, how the “composition” part of the music was only a pretty loose idea meant to be explored in all sorts of new ways. What do you hear the band doing to this classic tune? What do they seem to be “exploring” in the fusion version that they didn’t in the hard bop version?
Which of these versions do you think is more “listener friendly?” Why?
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4. Watermelon Man
“Watermelon Man” is one of Herbie Hancock’s appeared first on Scholars Hub Blog.
