This instrumental was composed by Herbie Hancock in collaboration with saxophonist Bennie Maupin, bass guitarist Paul Jackson and drummer Harvey Mason. All four songwriters played on the original version on Head Hunters, which features solos by Hancock and Maupin.
The song has a characteristic jazz bass line and is set to a funk beat. "I knew that I had never heard any jazz players really play funk like the funk I had been listening to," said Hancock. "Instead of getting jazz cats who knew how to play funk. I got funk cats who knew how to play jazz."
The song is one of the most widely recognized jazz standards, and has become standard repertoire in most small jazz ensembles. The Head Hunters album is a defining moment in the genre of jazz funk, and in 2003, it was ranked at #411 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.
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