Watermelon Man
Context
Written by Herbie Hancock for his first album, Takin' Off, this sixteen-bar blues became a standard covered more than two hundred times. Mongo Santamaría's version, as a cha-cha, reached number ten on the Hot 100 in 1963. Hancock gave it a funk version on Head Hunters (1973), which extended its reach.
In the genealogy of jazz
This track belongs to Hard bop, Soul jazz, boogaloo. Among the origins and influences of Hard bop: Blues, spirituals, work songs, Bebop (Minton's, Monroe's).