A year and a half before keyboardist Herbie Hancock recorded his seminal Headhunters album in the fall of 1973, he was in Paris performing with his Mwandishi Sextet. Mwandishi is Swahili for composer and it's a name Hancock adopted for himself in the late 1960s and early '70s. Members of his group followed suit: Mganga ("doctor," whose traditional functions include exorcism, prophecy and the removal of spells) was for flugelhornist Eddie Henderson, Pepo Mtoto ("demon baby") was for trombonist Julian Priester, Mwile ("body") was for reed player Bennie Maupin, Mchezaji ("player," someone who plays a game) was for bassist Buster Williams, Jabali ("strong as a rock") was for drummer Billy Hart, and Ndugu ("brother") was for drummer Leon Chancler.
His sextet in Paris in '72 featured Herbie Hancock/Mwandishi (keyboards), Eddie Henderson/Mganga (flugelhorn), Bennie Maupin/Mwile (bass clarinet, alto flute, curved soprano saxophone), Julian Priester/Pepo Mtoto (trombone), Buster Williams/Mchezaji (bass) and Billy Hart/Jabali (drums).
Fortunately, this early Mwandishi group was taped on March 23, 1972 performing Toys, Water Torture and Sleeping Giant. A couple of weeks ago, the French tape was colorized and uploaded to YouTube. A special thanks to Chris Cowles for finding it and sharing the link.
Here's Herbie Hancock and his Mwandishi Sextet...