Man-Child

Studio album by

Released

August 22, 1975

Recorded

1974–75

Studio

Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco; Village Recorders, Los Angeles; Funky Features, San Francisco; Crystal Studios, Los Angeles

Genre

Jazz-funk, jazz fusion

Length

45:17

Label

Columbia

Producer

David Rubinson, Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock chronology

Death Wish
(1974)

Man-Child
(1975)

Flood
(1975)

Herbie Hancock was heavily into electronics at this time in his career (mid 70's), and is displayed with brilliant effect on 'Death Wish'. For me, this is some of the best work he ever composed and is timeless. The orchestrations, as well, are magnificent. On 'Death Wish', he used some of the same players that were in his jazz/funk group at the. (Redirected from Death Wish (Soundtrack)) Death Wish is a soundtrack album by Herbie Hancock featuring music composed for Dino De Laurentiis ' film Death Wish released on October 11, 1974 on Columbia Records. A Paramount Release - Dino De Laurentiis presents Charles Bronson in a Michael Winner Film 'Death Wish'. Music Composed, Conducted and Performed by Herbie Hancock. Co-starring Vincent Gardenia, William Redfield and Hope Lange. From the novel 'Death Wish' by Brian Garfield. Screenplay by Wendell Mayers. Produced by Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	^[2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	^[3]

Man-Child is the fifteenth studio album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. The record was released on August 22, 1975 by Columbia Records.

Overview[edit]

It is arguably one of his most funk-influenced albums and it represents his further departure from the 'spacey, higher atmosphere jazz,' as he referred to it, of his earlier career. Hancock uses more funk based rhythms around the hi-hat, and snare drum. The tracks are characterized by short, repeated riffs by both the rhythm section, horns accompaniment, and bass lines. Man-Child features less improvisation from the whole band and more concentrated grooves with brief solos from the horns and Hancock himself on synthesizer and Fender Rhodes piano on top of the repeated riffs. This album features the addition of electric guitar to his new sound, which he started only five years prior to this album with Fat Albert Rotunda. The guitarists featured on this album were Melvin 'Wah-Wah Watson' Ragin, DeWayne 'Blackbyrd' McKnight and David T. Walker. Their extensive use of wah-wah pedal and accenting chords on the up-beat rather than the down-beat is what helps to give the album a distinct and funkier rhythm that is broken up by brief periods of stop-time where only the sustained chords are heard from the electric guitar with an open wah pedal. The riffs are fast-paced and energetic with repeating patterns that combine with multiple voices (i.e. horns, piano, bass, synthesizer, guitar and drums and percussion). The horn section in 'Hang Up Your Hang-Ups' plays repeated riffs in unison that alternate with and are answered by electric piano, synthesizer, and electric guitar in brief periods of call and response.

Paul Jackson, Bill Summers, Harvey Mason, Bennie Maupin, and Mike Clark (who replaced Harvey Mason post-1974) formed the core of the group the Headhunters with which Hancock had toured and recorded for the previous three years. This was their final album as a group.

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Herbie Hancock except where noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	'Hang Up Your Hang Ups' (Hancock, Ragin, Jackson)	7:29
2.	'Sun Touch'	5:12
3.	'The Traitor' (Hancock, Ragin, Johnson, Shorter)	9:38
4.	'Bubbles' (Hancock, Ragin)	9:03
5.	'Steppin' in It'	8:42
6.	'Heartbeat' (Hancock, Ragin, Jackson)	5:16

Herbie Hancock Death Wish Rare

Personnel[edit]

Herbie Hancock Death Wish Main Title

Herbie Hancock – piano, keyboards
Bud Brisbois – trumpet
Jay DaVersa – trumpet
Garnett Brown – trombone
Dick Hyde – trombone, tuba
Wayne Shorter – alto and soprano saxophones
Bennie Maupin – soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, alto and bass flutes, saxello, percussion
Jim Horn – flute, saxophone
Ernie Watts – flute, saxophone
Dewayne McKnight, David T. Walker – guitar
Wah Wah Watson – synthesizer, voice bag, guitar
Henry E. Davis – bass guitar
Paul Jackson – bass guitar
Louis Johnson – bass guitar
Mike Clark – drums
James Gadson – drums
Harvey Mason – drums
Stevie Wonder – harmonica
Bill Summers – percussion

References[edit]

^Newsom, Jim (2011). 'Man-Child - Herbie Hancock | AllMusic'. allmusic.com. Retrieved 16 July 2011.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
^Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. U.S.: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 94. ISBN0-394-72643-X.
^Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 642. ISBN978-0-141-03401-0.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Man-Child&oldid=1010522366'

“Herbie Hancock extends the reach of his Head Hunters – vintage electric music into the soundtrack field, with some switchbacks to earlier styles and old-fashioned movie suspense music thrown into the eclectic mix. Jerry Peters provides the requisite orchestral backgrounds, and the wah-wah guitar licks give some indication as to where Herbie’s funk music would be going in the future. The main title music is the best track — tense, streaked with Hancock’s echo-delayed electric piano and understated orchestrations…..the results are, in general, more intriguing than usual for the film genre.” – Allmusic Review

Herbie Hancock Death Wish

“In the spring of 1974, Hancock received a call from film director Michael Winner, who asked him to compose the score for Death Wish, a film in which an architect (played by Charles Bronson) takes to vigilantism after a gang of thugs murders his wife and rapes his daughter. Winner’s girlfriend had recommended Hancock for the job on the basis of the omnipresent LP Head Hunters. This was his third film score after Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up (1966) and Ivan Dixon’s The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973).

The personnel on the recording date included the Head Hunters members and a group of distinguished session musicians. Among them was guitarist Melvin Ragin, also known as Wah Wah Watson, whom Hancock had first met at the recording sessions for Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, and who went on to play on a number of later Hancock albums. Parts of the score were arranged and conducted by fellow keyboarder and composer Jerry Peters.” – Bob Belden, 201