If ever there was an appropriate title for a tune, then it is surely ‘God Made Me Funky’, the high water mark of the first disc of an excellent 2-CD set. It is a singular piece of groovemanship, with the combination punches of syncopated drums and pentatonic bass lines combining with such merciless ferocity that it does appear to be something of a divine right if not the result of a pact with a fallen pugilistic angel by the name of Joe Louis Cypher. That said, the piece morphs into an uproarious piece of, dare one say, avant-fusion, as Maupin pushes the harmony beyond its initial framework and lets rip with a sound barrage that refl ects his engagement with ‘New Thing’ heroes such as Marion Brown in the early stage of his career. Although Headhunters was the group recruited by Herbie Hancock because he needed practitioners of a hard groove who could facilitate the pianist's attempt to meld the spirits of Miles Davis, James Brown and Sly Stone, the players were sufficiently skilled and versatile to be able to bring decidedly African fl avours into the music – surely the infl uence of percussionist extraordinaire Bill Summers – while their jazz chops were more than highlighted by the jumpy melodies heard elsewhere. The second disc has a marked rock fl avour, with a generally less circular rhythmic character in the arrangements, but nonetheless the writing and playing stand up well, no more so than on the wistful ‘Don't Kill Your Feelings.’