Head Hunters

The album became a turning point for a radical shift in both the production and reception of jazz. The sales numbers were unprecedented, and the music industry quickly responded to the expanded market, with production and promotion budgets rising tenfold. Such a shift helped musicians prise open the control-booth door, permanently enlarging their role in production. But it was all at a cost. Critics, believing that rock and funk might be appropriating jazz to new musical ends - or more ominously, for commercial reasons - grew increasingly alarmed at what they saw as the beginning of the end of jazz.

CONTENTS
Preface
Fusion Jazz and the Head Hunters Project
"An African Thing": Aesthetics and Identity in Head Hunters
At the Crossroads of Genre: Funk in Action
The Parts They Brought With Them
Hands On the Knobs: How Production Techniques Changed the Music
Selling Herbie: Marketing and Head Hunters
Final Reflections: The Politics of Classification
Appendix; Notes; Bibliography; Discography

"An important and timely book. Pond's work reflects the insight an informed researcher and skilled performer can bring to the study of music. In exploring varied dimensions - sonic, cultural, technological, economic - he renders the tale in all its complexity, without sacrificing clarity of expression. This is the kind of book jazz scholarship has long needed" - TRAVIS JACKSON, Associate Professor of Music, University of Chicago.

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