Song:Chameleon
Album:Chameleon
Drummer Harvey Mason is a legendary session musician and sideman who has played with just about everyone. He occasionally records as a leader. This 2014 album is a tribute to Mason's 70s stint with Herbie Hancock and The Headhunters. He was born Feb. 22, 1947 in Atlantic City, NJ. He attended Berklee and he graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music. After stints with Eroll Garner and George Shearing, Mason moved to Los Angeles and became a session musician. Most notably he was in Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and he co-wrote and played on the original recording of Chameleon. He played on recordings by Donald Byrd, George Benson (Breezin'), Grover Washington Jr. (Mister Magic), Bob James and The Brothers Johnson. In 1975, Mason signed with Arista Records and had success on the dance charts for the next few years. When that ended in 1981, he returned to session work. And he still does that today. The 2014 album Chameleon on Concord Jazz is a tribute to his 70s stint with The Headhunters. Mason wrote Chameleon with fellow Headhunters Bennie Maupin, Herbie Hancock and Paul Jackson. The arrangement was written by Ben Wendel of Kneebody. The guest star on Chameleon is Headhunters percussionist Bill Summers. Other musicians are Kamasi Washington on tenor sax, pianist Mark de Clive-Lowe who arranged most of the album, John Beasley on piano, Matthew Stevens on guitar and Jimmy Haslip on bass. Mason did tour with this band. Mason is also a member of Fourplay and he continues to record and tour with them. And of course he continues as a studio musician. Here's Harvey Mason performing Chameleon in the recording studio. This video was produced by Vic Firth drumsticks to promote a contest they were running in 2015.
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