Takin' Off

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title: "Takin' Off" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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"] description: "1962 debut album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock" topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takin'_Off" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1962 debut album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]

Field	Value
name	Takin' Off
type	studio
artist	Herbie Hancock
cover	Takin' Off (1962), by Herbie Hancock.jpg
border	yes
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
next_title	My Point of View
next_year	1963
::

| name = Takin' Off | type = studio | artist = Herbie Hancock | cover = Takin' Off (1962), by Herbie Hancock.jpg | border = yes | alt = | released = October 1962 | recorded = May 28, 1962 | venue = | studio = Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs | genre = Soul jazz, hard bop | length = 39:01 | label = Blue Note | producer = Alfred Lion | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = My Point of View | next_year = 1963

| rev1 = Allmusic | rev1Score = | rev2 = Down Beat | rev2Score = |rev3 = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | rev3Score = |rev4 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |rev4score =

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. 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

| "Watermelon Man" – 7:09 | "Three Bags Full" – 5:27 | "Empty Pockets" – 6:09

Side two | "The Maze" – 6:45 | "Driftin'" – 6:58 | "Alone and I" – 6:25 Bonus tracks on CD reissue | "Watermelon Man" (alternate take) – 6:33 | "Three Bags Full" (alternate take) – 5:31 | "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

References

1. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5xcEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Hancock+Takin%27+Off&pg=PA40 ''Billboard'' Oct 22, 1962]
2. Martin, Henry. (2004). "Essential Jazz: The First 100 Years". [[Cengage Learning]].
3. Huey, Steve. (2011). "Takin' Off - Herbie Hancock | AllMusic". allmusic.com.
4. [[Down Beat]]: January 17, 1963 vol. 30, no. 2
5. (1985). "The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide". Random House/Rolling Stone.
6. (2008). "[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz". [[Penguin Books.
7. "Album".
8. The [[blues]]y track "[[Watermelon Man (composition). 0-534-62804-4

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