Listen to Herbie Hancock explaining how and why he wrote his “Watermelon Man” like he did:
Incredible. With one of my favourite bass players, Christian McBride, and Karriem Riggins on drums. Now listen to this one from the Live under the sky festival in Yomiuriland, Japan in 1991. You might know Herbie’s melody from about 20 years later, when someone said “funky, funky”, and made it a hit again. But this version with its original title “Cantaloupe Island” is far better:
Enjoy…