In 1973, Herbie Hancock — tired of what he called the “heavy” music of his sextet and hungry for something “of the earth” — assembled a new quintet with saxophonist Bennie Maupin, bassist Paul Jackson, percussionist Bill Summers, and drummer Harvey Mason. The resulting album, Head Hunters, drew on Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, and Curtis Mayfield to forge a gritty jazz-funk that went platinum and made the band’s name. Mason was soon replaced by Mike Clark, and though Hancock himself moved on after a couple of years, Summers and Clark kept the Headhunters together for decades.
The band’s latest chapter belongs to New Orleans. Summers, a Detroit native, now lives here — and the current lineup he co-leads with Clark draws on some of the city’s finest: alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, a Mardi Gras Indian chief and New Orleans jazz icon; seven-string bassist Chris Severin; and pianist Kyle Roussel, a member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The 50th-anniversary tour brought the band home to NOLA Brewing Company in 2023.
