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Takin' Off
Studio album by Herbie Hancock
Released	October 1962
Recorded	May 28, 1962
Studio	Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs
Genre	Soul jazz, hard bop
Length	39:01
Label	Blue Note
Producer	Alfred Lion
Herbie Hancock chronology
Takin' Off (1962) My Point of View (1963)

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Source	Rating
Allmusic
Down Beat
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings

Takin' Off is the debut album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock released in 1962 by Blue Note Records. The album features veteran tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Butch Warren and drummer Billy Higgins. The album is a creative example of music in the hard bop idiom. The bluesy track "Watermelon Man" made it to the Top 100 of the singles charts, and went on to become a jazz standard. Hancock released a funk arrangement of “Watermelon Man” on his 1973 album Head Hunters. Takin' Off was initially released on CD in 1996 and then again in remastered form in 2007 by Rudy Van Gelder.

Track listing

All compositions by Herbie Hancock.

Side one

1. "Watermelon Man" – 7:09
2. "Three Bags Full" – 5:27
3. "Empty Pockets" – 6:09

Side two

1. "The Maze" – 6:45
2. "Driftin'" – 6:58
3. "Alone and I" – 6:25

Bonus tracks on CD reissue

7. "Watermelon Man" (alternate take) – 6:33
8. "Three Bags Full" (alternate take) – 5:31
9. "Empty Pockets" (alternate take) – 6:27

Personnel

• Herbie Hancock – piano
• Freddie Hubbard – trumpet
• Dexter Gordon – tenor saxophone
• Butch Warren – double bass
• Billy Higgins – drums

References

1. Billboard Oct 22, 1962
2. Martin, Henry (2004). Essential Jazz: The First 100 Years. Cengage Learning. p. 243. ISBN 1111794278. Retrieved October 5, 2013. ...Takin' Off was a typical hard bop LP...
3. Huey, Steve (2011). "Takin' Off - Herbie Hancock | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
4. Down Beat: January 17, 1963 vol. 30, no. 2
5. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. U.S.: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 93. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
6. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 640. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
7. "Album".
8. ^ Martin, Henry; & Waters, Keith (2005). Jazz: The First 100 Years. Thomas Wadsworth. p. 311. ISBN 0-534-62804-4

• 1962 debut albums
• Blue Note Records albums
• Herbie Hancock albums
• Albums produced by Alfred Lion
• Hard bop albums
• Soul jazz albums
• Modal jazz albums
• Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio