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"Cantaloupe Island" | |
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Song by Herbie Hancock | |
from the album Empyrean Isles | |
Released | 1964 |
Studio | Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey |
Genre | Modal jazz |
Length | 5:33 |
Label | Blue Note Records |
Songwriter(s) | Herbie Hancock |
Music video | |
Cantaloupe Island (Remastered) 1999 on YouTube |
"Cantaloupe Island" is a jazz standard composed by Herbie Hancock and recorded for his 1964 album Empyrean Isles [1] during his early years as one of the members of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet. Hancock later recorded a jazz-funk fusion version of the track, as Cantelope Island, on his 1976 album Secrets.
The musicians for the original 1964 recording were: Hancock (piano), Freddie Hubbard ( cornet), Ron Carter ( bass) and Tony Williams (drums). [2] The 1976 recording featured Bennie Maupin ( saxophone), Wah Wah Watson (guitar), Paul Jackson (bass), and James Levi (drums).
The jazz rap group Us3 sampled "Cantaloupe Island" in their song " Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)", from their album Hand On the Torch (1993). "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" was recorded as a demo a year before the group's first release. but in the US, "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" reached, No. 21 on the R&B Single Sales chart No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group's only top 40 single. [3] It did not chart initially in their native UK, but after its US success, it was subsequently re-released in UK where it peaked at No. 23. [4] "Cantaloop" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 25, 1994, for selling over 500,000 copies.
In 2000, "Cantaloupe Island" placed at #19 in the Jazz24.org "Jazz 100: One Hundred Quintessential Jazz Songs". [5]
The track is featured in the Woody Allen's film Coup de chance released in 2023. [6]