Cantaloupe Island is a jazz standard composed by Herbie Hancock. It was recorded for his 1964 Blue Note album Empyrean Isles and released that year. The original lineup features Hancock on piano, Freddie Hubbard on cornet, Ron Carter on bass, and Tony Williams on drums, and the track sits in modal jazz with a 16-bar groove built on a repeating piano vamp that alternates between three minor chords. In 1976 Hancock reimagined the tune with a reggae-tinged jazz fusion on the album Secrets, sometimes listed as Cantelope Island, with Bennie Maupin on sax, Wah Wah Watson on guitar, Paul Jackson on bass, and James Levi on drums. The tune gained wider fame when Us3 sampled it for Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) in 1993, helping it become a durable jazz standard. It has been covered by many artists and even appeared in Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance (2023).
