Wednesday, May 26, 2004  

Herbie Hancock, "Watermelon Man"
from Takin' Off (Blue Note, 1962)
Herbie Hancock, "Watermelon Man"
from Flood (Sony Japan, 1977; rec. 1975)
Baba Brooks Band, "Watermelon Man"
from Shufflin' on Bond Street (Trojan, 1989; rec. 1963)

Jazz & ska, day three.

Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," as heard on the pianist's 1962 debut LP Takin' Off, is pretty well known (as is Mongo Santamaria's 1963 hit version), but the song takes on a totally different form on Hancock's Japanese-only live album Flood. The beat is slowed, the riff deemphasied, and the opening guitar accents play on the off beats, almost ska style, filling in between Bill Summer's cuica/puita hand drumming (the cuica is the Brazilian version of its African predecessor, the puita; sounds like a crazy bird; listen here for more.)

Meanwhile, the Baba Brooks Band just gets right to the groove on their 1963 version of "Watermelon Man" for Duke Reid's Dutchess label. Can't be holdin' up the dance with long-ass intros when people wanna be droppin' some legs, right? (Byron Lee also did a ska take in 1964, and the Maytals weighed in with their version in 1970.)

EB Reggae, which I plug all the time because it is the best place for reggae and ska on the Web and also because their prices and service are beyond tite, has Shufflin' on Bond Street. You can get Herbie's jank from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Posted by CP | Link |

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