"Watermelon Man" is a

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive List ...

written by

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

for his debut album, '' Takin' Off'' (1962). Hancock's first version was recorded in a

hard bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...

style, featuring solos by trumpeter

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

and saxophonist

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians. Gordon's height was , so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" an ...

. A single release reached the Top 100 of the ''Billboard'' pop charts. Afro-Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaría subsequently released a version which became a surprise hit, reaching No. 10 on the pop chart.Strong, Martin Charles (2004). ''The Great Rock Discography: Complete Discographies Listing Every Track''. Canongate. pp. 652–653. Santamaría's recording was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

in 1998. Hancock later recorded a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

version of "Watermelon Man" for the album ''

Head Hunters ''Head Hunters'' is the twelfth studio album by American pianist, keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock, released October 26, 1973, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the evening at Wally Heider Studios and D ...

'' (1973).Brackett, Nathan (2004). ''The New Rolling Stone Album Guide''.

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. p. 361.

1963 Herbie Hancock version

Hancock wrote the piece to help sell his debut album as a leader, '' Takin' Off'' (1962), on

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

; it was the first piece of music he had ever composed with a commercial goal in mind. The popularity of the piece, due primarily to Mongo Santamaría's version, paid Hancock's bills for five or six years. Hancock did not feel the composition was a sellout, however, describing it as one of his strongest pieces structurally.Lyons, Len (1989). ''The Great Jazz Pianists: Speaking of Their Lives and Music''. Da Capo Press. p. 275. "Watermelon Man" is written in a sixteen-bar blues form. Recalling the piece, Hancock said, "I remember the cry of the watermelon man making the rounds through the back streets and alleys of Chicago. The wheels of his wagon beat out the rhythm on the

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on Cobble (geology), cobble-sized stones, and is used for Road surface, pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Sett (paving), Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as " ...

s." The tune drew on elements of R&B, soul jazz, and

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

. Hancock joined bassist

Butch Warren Edward Rudolph "Butch" Warren Jr. (August 9, 1939 – October 5, 2013) was an American jazz bassist who was active during the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Warren's mother was a typist at the CIA. His father, Edward Sr., was an electronics tech ...

and drummer Billy Higgins in the rhythm section, with

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

and

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

.Creswell, Toby (2006). ''1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them''. Thunder's Mouth Press. p. 333. Hancock's chordal work draws from the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

tradition, while he builds his

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

on repeated riffs and trilled figures.

Mongo Santamaría version

Watermelon man by mongo santamaria band US single side-A

After pianist

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...

left Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist Mongo Santamaría's band, Hancock served as a temporary replacement for a weekend engagement at a nightclub in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. During this engagement, Hancock played "Watermelon Man" for Santamaría at

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few h ...

's urging. Santamaría started accompanying him on his

congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are stave (wood), staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (drum), quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), an ...

, the rest of the band joined in, and the small audience slowly got up from their tables and started dancing. Santamaría later asked Hancock if he could record the tune. On December 17, 1962, he recorded a three-minute version, suitable for radio, where he joined timbalero Francisco "Kako" Baster in a cha-cha beat, while drummer Ray Lucas performed a backbeat.Gerard, Charley (2001). ''Music from Cuba: Mongo Santamaria, Chocolate Armenteros, and Cuban Musicians''. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 54-55. With the enthusiasm of record producer Orrin Keepnews, the band re-recorded the song and released it as a single under Battle Records. The single reached number10 on ''Billboard'' in 1963. Santamaría subsequently included the track on his album ''Watermelon Man!'' (1963). Santamaría's recording is sometimes considered the beginning of the

boogaloo Boogaloo or bugalú (also: shing-a-ling, Latin boogaloo, Latin R&B) is a music genre, genre of Latin music and dance which was popular in the United States in the 1960s. Boogaloo originated in New York City mainly by stateside Puerto Ricans with ...

genre, a fusion of Afro-Cuban jazz and R&B.

Chart performance

1973 Herbie Hancock version

Hancock re-recorded "Watermelon Man" for ''

'' (1973), combining synthesizers with a

beat influenced by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

and

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

,Vincent, Rickey (1996). ''Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One''.

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

. adding an eight-bar section. Hancock described his approach to ''

Down Beat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

'' magazine in 1979: "In the popular forms of funk, which I've been trying to get into, the attention is on the rhythmic interplay between different instruments. The part the

Clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

plays has to fit with the part the drums plays and the line the bass plays and the line that the guitar plays. It's almost like African drummers, where seven drummers play different parts". A live version of this arrangement was released on the double LP ''

Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

'' (1975), recorded in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. On the intro and outro of the tune, percussionist Bill Summers blows into beer bottles in an imitation of hindewhu, a style of singing/whistle-playing found in

Pygmy music Pygmy music refers to the sub-Saharan African music traditions of the Central African foragers (or "Pygmies"), predominantly in Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congo, the Central African Republic and Cameroon. Pygmy groups include the Ba ...

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

. Hancock and Summers were struck by the sound, which they heard on the album ''The Music of the Ba-Benzélé Pygmies'' (1966) recorded by Simha Arom and Geneviève Taurelle.Feld, Steven (1996). "Pygmy POP. A Genealogy of Schizophonic Mimesis.'' Yearbook for Traditional Music 28. p. 4-5. This version was often featured on

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel ...

's Local on the 8s segments. It was also played in the 2018 movie '' mid90s''.

Other versions

"Watermelon Man" has become a

, and has been recorded over two hundred times: *In 1963, Jamaican trumpeter Baba Brooks and his band recorded "Watermelon Man Ska." *In 1964

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's band 'The Manish Boys' played the song live but no recorded version is known. *In 1969 Big Mama Thornton gave her interpretation at the Newport Folk Festival (Newport, RI). *In 2003, pianist David Benoit covered the song from his album ''Right Here, Right Now''. *A live and funky performance at the 1999 Montreux Jazz Festival Casino Lights '99 featured Fourplay,

George Duke George Martin Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as ...

, Boney James and Kirk Whalum trading choruses, and Rick Braun.

Samples

Hancock's recording has been sampled in: *"1-900-LL-Cool-J" from '' Walking with a Panther'' (1989) by

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...

*"Open Your Eyes" from '' Organized Konfusion'' (1991) by Organized Konfusion *"Here We Go Again" from '' Smoke Some Kill'' (1988) by Schoolly D, *"Pocket Full of Furl" from ''Uptown 4 Life'' (1996) by U.N.L.V. *"Sanctuary" from '' Bedtime Stories'' (1994) by

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

*" Dolly My Baby" from ''Don Dada'' (1992) by Super Cat

Personnel

''Takin' Off'' version: *

– piano *

– tenor saxophone * Billy Higgins – drums, percussion *

– trumpet *

– double bass ''Head Hunters'' version: *Herbie Hancock – Fender Rhodes electric piano, clavinet, synthesizers *

Bennie Maupin Bennie Maupin (born August 29, 1940) is an American jazz multireedist who performs on various saxophones, flute, and bass clarinet. Biography Maupin was born in Detroit, Michigan. He is known for his participation in Herbie Hancock's Mwandish ...

– soprano saxophone * Bill Summers – percussion, beer bottle *

Harvey Mason Harvey William Mason (born February 22, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, record producer, and member of the band Fourplay. He was the original drummer for Herbie Hancock's band The Headhunters. Life and career Mason was born and grew ...

– drums * Paul Jackson – bass guitar

References

{{Authority control 1962 songs 1963 debut singles 1960s jazz standards Hard bop jazz standards Bill Haley songs The J.B.'s songs 1960s instrumentals Jazz compositions Songs written by Herbie Hancock Jazz compositions in F major Jazz standards Herbie Hancock songs Herbie Hancock