Head Hunters is the twelfth studio album by American pianist, keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock, released October 26, 1973, on Columbia Records.

The album was a commercial and artistic breakthrough for Hancock, crossing over to funk and rock audiences and bringing jazz-funk fusion to mainstream attention, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard 200.

Hancock is featured with woodwind player Bennie Maupin from his previous sextet and new collaborators – bassist Paul Jackson, percussionist Bill Summers and drummer Harvey Mason.

He later reflected on moving away from this style: I began to feel that I had been spending so much time exploring the upper atmosphere of music and the more ethereal kind of far-out spacey stuff.

Hancock handled all synthesizer parts himself (having shared these duties with Patrick Gleeson on Crossings and Sextant) and he decided against the use of guitar altogether, favoring instead the clavinet, one of the defining sounds on the album.

The new band featured a tight rhythm section composed of Paul Jackson (bass) and Harvey Mason (drums), and the album has a relaxed, funky sensibility that gave it an appeal to a far wider audience.

[citation needed] The Headhunters band (with Mike Clark replacing Harvey Mason) worked with Hancock on a number of other albums, including Thrust (1974), Man-Child (1975), and Flood (1975), the latter of which was recorded live in Japan.