The Headhunters push forward

After 40 years Mike Clark still finds it hard to believe he joined the Headhunters. He considers himself a drummer steeped in the language of jazz, specifically the fluid bebop and post-bop dialects of drummers such as Tony Williams and Philly Joe Jones. The jazz-fusion of the Headhunters speaks a different tongue entirely; their vocabulary is one of psychedelic textures, sprawling percussion, and a knack for unhinged experimentation.

“It has been completely strange and it’s been a blessing and a curse for my entire life,” Clark says. “As far as the Headhunters go, I’m so relaxed in that band that it’s cool because I approach it like a jazz drummer would, so somehow I see myself in that band, but it took a long time.”

The seminal fusion group etched its mark on the jazz landscape in 1973 with its most famous release, a collaboration with legendary keyboardist Herbie Hancock titled Head Hunters. Similar to genre-defining works such as Miles Davis’ electric masterpiece Bitches Brew, the Headhunters’ first release provided a template for a new palette of sounds that combined cutting-edge synthesizers with wild improvisation.

Clark came onto the scene through a combination of skill and supernatural timing. He was honing his chops in Oakland, California’s jazz circuit while sharing an apartment with Headhunters bassist Paul Jackson. After releasing Head Hunters, drummer Harvey Mason dropped out. Jackson put in a good word for Clark’s drumming and soon he was auditioning on his small 18-inch Gretsch jazz drum kit for Hancock himself.

Clark was starstruck by the prospect of playing with one of his idols, but he still had reservations about crossing over to a different sound. “I said to Hancock, ‘Because you’re so famous I’m going to be known as a funk drummer, and you guys aren’t playing jazz so that could screw up my career,’” he recalls. “And Hancock said, ‘You may have something there but at least with me everyone in the world is gonna hear about you,’ so that did it right there.”

His first foray with the Headhunters was on the 1974 release Thrust, where his understated grooves glide through fierce soloing on tracks like the slow-burning “Butterfly.” The album contains hallmarks of the group’s distinctive sound. Afro-Cuban influences fuse neatly with Sly and the Family Stone-style funk inflections, while Hancock’s array of keyboards create a swirling patchwork of futuristic sounds.

The eclectic style contrasted with the straightforward jazz stylings of the time, drawing the ire of many critics. “We weren’t playing swing and had an electric bass and most of the jazz critics didn’t have a connection with soul music,” he says. “Some of them dug it and got it right away, but many of them were older purists so to them this sounded like noise or selling out.”

Despite the backlash, the Headhunters’ sound is imbedded in jazz history and many of its grooves became perfect sample fodder for hip-hop producers. “God Make Me Funky” from the album Survival of the Fittest is a popular sample source for artists ranging from Nas to Digable Planets. Clark is now one of the most sampled drummers of all time, which has proven to be a dubious distinction. “I’ve never really been paid for being sampled so my feeling about that is, if you can’t play a beat or you can’t find a middle C on the piano and you’re gonna use my music or beats — pay me.”

The Headhunters took an extended hiatus after 1977, but returned with the arrival of Return of the Headhunters! in 1998. Since then the original lineup has shifted — Clark and percussionist Bill Summers are the only long-standing members remaining. Decades have gone by since the Headhunters were at the peak of their career, but Clark remains as forward-thinking as ever.

“If you’re going to move something forward you can’t be concerned with the criticism that may come your way,” he says. “There’s a time and place for everything but sometimes you have to take responsibility and move things forward.”