The Headhunters are a jazz-funk band who emerged immediately after Herbie Hancock disbanded the vanguard, electro-acoustic Mwandishi, who'd recorded 1973's Sextant. The keyboardist/composer/producer's Head Hunters album in 1973 featured an almost totally new lineup that became his core working group until the end of the decade. Encouraged by the boss, Headhunters also performed on their own. They recorded 1975's Survival of the Fittest with Hancock as producer, and 1978's Straight from the Gate with him as a guest. A new lineup released 1998's acclaimed Return of the Headhunters. The lineup evolved for 2003's Evolution Revolution and 2011's Platinum. After an 11-year recording hiatus, Headhunters returned with 2022's Speakers in the House.

As a band, Headhunters represented a major turning point for Hancock, whose approach to fusion became funkier and more consciously accessible with the formation of this popular group. Their eponymously titled debut was the platinum-certified, jazz-funk classic Head Hunters in 1973. Employing saxman/clarinetist Bennie Maupin (who also played in Mwandishi), bassist Paul Jackson, Jr., drummer Harvey Mason, and percussionist Bill Summers. Fusing jazz with funk and rock, the album's popularity attracted many R&B and rock fans. In fact, Head Hunters outsold Miles Davis' popular Bitches Brew. Defined by the catchy "Chameleon" (which was later interpreted by jazz singer Eddie Jefferson and sampled by various rappers in the '80s and '90s) and a funky remake of his 1962 boogaloo "Watermelon Man," Headhunters set the tone for global touring and subsequent Columbia projects beginning with 1974's Thrust.

In 1975, the Headhunters issued Survival of the Fittest, a hardcore funk offering with Mike Clark replacing Mason -- though the latter contributed percussion alongside Zak Diouf and Baba Duru Oshun. They also recruited guitarist DeWayne Blackbird McKnight and utilized the talents of guest flutist Joyce Jackson. Bassist Paul Jackson made his debut as a lead vocalist on the date. Hancock didn't play on the record, but he produced it.

The Headhunters band worked with Hancock in studio and on tour for 1974's Thrust, 1975's Man-Child, 1976's Secrets, and 1977's Sunlight, which appeared just before Headhunters released their sophomore outing, Straight from the Gate, which was self-produced and completely independent of Hancock. By the end of the decade, the keyboardist had formally disbanded the Headhunters, though they continued to tour together intermittently as their own act. In 1998 the band reunited and released Return of the Headhunters! Hancock was featured as a guest on the recording, as were keyboardist Billy Childs and guitarist Joel Kipnis.

In 2003, a greatly expanded Headhunters lineup issued Evolution Revolution on the independent Basin Street label from New Orleans. Mason returned on the drums as the group's second kit man, and Maupin was joined by saxophonists Donald Harrison and Aaron Fletcher, Nicholas Payton and Aaron Fletcher on trumpets, and Wah Wah Watson on guitar, among others. Produced by Jackson, Summers, and Clark, the set was balanced equally between danceable funk and futurist jazz fusion. The unofficial On Top: Live in Europe was issued in 2008 by Japan's P-Vine, featuring a lineup sans Jackson (replaced by bassist/vocalist T.M. Stevens) or Maupin (replaced by Harrison and Mark Shim). In 2011, Headhunters released the star-studded jazz/funk/hip hop fusion offering Platinum on the Owl Studios label. Clark, Summers, and Harrison re-enlisted Maupin as a guest. Others included Azar Lawrence, George Clinton, Patrice Rushen, and rappers Killah Priest and Snoop Dogg (among others).

Other than intermittent touring, Headhunters were on hiatus, most assumed permanently. That said, percussionist Summers, drummer Clark, and saxophonist Harrison, resurrected the band again in late 2021. They recruited Stephen Gordon on keyboards and Reggie Washington on bass. Their guests included organist Jerry Z, Fode Sissoko on kora and drum programming by Scott Roberts. Their Ropeadope reunion album, Speakers in the House, appeared in November 2022. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi