Back in the early 70’s, drummer Mike Clark and bassist Paul Jackson were best friends, living in East Oakland, playing flatbed gigs at Black Panther rallies and generally raising hell. Bill Summers worked with Jackson at the local record store. When Hancock handpicked these three for his new album “Head Hunters,” the result was the first platinum selling Jazz album in history and the birth of The Headhunters. The trio recorded on several other seminal Hancock releases including “Thrust” and “Flood” and kept the 50 year legacy alive, releasing “Survival of the Fittest” in 1975 and “Straight From The Gate” in 1977 followed by “Return of the Headhunters” in 1998, produced by Herbie Hancock, “Evolution Revolution” in 2003, “Platinum” in 2011 and “Speakers In The House” in 2022. “The Stunt Man” is The Headhunters’ new studio album out on Ropeadope October 11th, 2024. Recorded at the legendary Hyde Street Studios (where “Head Hunters” was recorded) in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District in August 2023, and produced by resident engineer Chris McGrew. “The Stunt Man” is seven genre-bending songs featuring Donald Harrison on alto sax, Kyle Roussel on keys and Chris Severin on bass. Starting out with the funk synth-driven ripping title track, the album includes originals by Harrison and Roussel along with timeless jazz standards “Embraceable You” by George Gershwin and “ESP” by Wayne Shorter.