Search for the New Land

The funky feel of 'Watermelon Man' on Herbie Hancock's 1962 debut Takin' Off came from drummer Billy Higgins, who landed his stroke right between straight eighths and swung triplets. The tune would soon travel far.

Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder (1964) was meant as routine hard bop, but the title track became a surprise hit — a chart single that ended up in a TV ad — and it shored up a struggling Blue Note. Afterward the label kept pressing its players for 'another Sidewinder.'