Herbie Hancock - Flood (1975)

Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters take to the road in the live double album Flood, recorded and released only in Japan. Contrary to the impression left by his American releases at this time, Hancock was still very much attached to the acoustic piano, as his erudite opening workout on "Maiden Voyage/Actual Proof" with his funk rhythm section makes clear. The electric keyboards, mostly Rhodes piano and clavinet, make their first appearances on side two, where Hancock now becomes more of a funky adjunct to the rhythm section, bumping along with a superb feeling for the groove while Bennie Maupin takes the high road above on a panoply of winds. Except for "Voyage," the tunes come from the Head Hunters, Thrust, and Man-Child albums (another reason why this was not released in the U.S.). "Chameleon" comes with a lengthy outbreak of machine pink noise that attests to Hancock's wide-eyed love of gadgetry. In all, this was a great funk band, not all that danceable because of the rapid complexities of Mike Clark's drumming, and quite often, full of harmonic depth and adventure.

by Richard S. Ginell at All Music Guide.

Styles:
Jazz-Funk
Funk
Fusion
Post-Bop

Tracks:
01 Introduction/Mayden Voyage
02 Actual Proof
03 Spank-A-Lee
04 Watermelon Man
05 Butterfly
06 Chameleon
07 Hang up Your Hangs Ups

Line-up:
Mike Clark – drums
Herbie Hancock – acoustic piano / fender rhodes / clavinet / arp odyssey / arp soloist / arp string ensemble
Paul Jackson – fender bass
Bennie Maupin – soprano and tenor saxophone / saxello / bass clarinet / flute / percussion
Dewayne McKnight – guitar
Bill Summers – congas / percussion