Sunlight is a 1978 jazz-funk

Jazz-funk

Jazz-funk is a sub-genre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat , electrified sounds, and often, the presence of the first electronic analog synthesizers...

 fusion

Jazz fusion

Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...

 album by keyboardist Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...

. Originally a UK import album, it features Hancock's vocals through a vocoder

Vocoder

A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...

 as well as performances by drummer Tony Williams and bassist Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius

John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....

.

The album produced a UK single entitled "I Thought It Was You" which was mildly received at the time by jazz listeners. As a whole the album tends to lay more toward funk than a jazz record, and is reminiscent of much of the electro-funk of the time. This release marks the beginning of the 1980s electro-era style that was more refined in Herbie's later albums such as Future Shock and Sound-System

Sound-System (album)

Sound-System is the thirty-sixth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and the second of three albums with the Rockit Band.-About the Album:The second of the three Rockit band albums, Sound-System was another smash for Herbie Hancock....

.

Side one

1. "I Thought it Was You" (Hancock, Melvin Ragin, Jeffrey Cohen) – 8:54
2. "Come Running to Me" (lyrics by Allee Willis) – 8:23

Musicians

• Terry Adams
  Terry Adams (musician)
  Terry Adams is an American pianist/composer and a founding member of the musical group NRBQ , known for decades of extensive touring, energetic and humorous live shows, and wide-ranging musical repertoire, including rock, blues, country, pop, and jazz...
  
   – strings
• Garnett Brown
  Garnett Brown
  Garnett Brown is a jazz trombonist who has worked with The Crusaders, Herbie Hancock, Lionel Hampton, and others.He graduated from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and later studied film scoring and electronic music at UCLA In 1974 he won the Down Beat Reader's poll for trombonist, and...
  
   – brass
• Leon "Ndugu" Chancler – drums
• Herbie Hancock
  Herbie Hancock
  Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
  
   – keyboards, producer, synthesizer, vocals, background vocals
• Fred Jackson, Jr. – woodwind
• James Levi – drums
• Roy Malan– strings
• Harvey Mason, Sr. – drums
• Bennie Maupin
  Bennie Maupin
  Bennie Maupin is a Detroit Michigan jazz multireedist. He performs on various saxophones, flute and bass clarinet.He is probably best known for his participation in Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi sextet and Headhunters band, and for performing on Miles Davis's seminal fusion record, Bitches Brew...
  
   – soprano saxophone
• Byron Miller – electric bass
• Jack Nimitz
  Jack Nimitz
  Jack Nimitz was an American jazz baritone saxophonist.He played in a variety of genres including jazz and rock...
  
   – woodwind
• Robert O'Bryant – brass
• Jaco Pastorius
  Jaco Pastorius
  John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
  
   – eletric bass
• Raul Rekow – percussion
• Nathan Rubin – strings
• Bobby Shew
  Bobby Shew
  -Biography:After leaving college in 1960, Shew was drafted into the U.S. Army and played trumpet with the NORAD band in Colorado Springs and on tour. After leaving the Army, Shew joined Tommy Dorsey's band and then played with the Woody Herman and then the Buddy Rich Big Bands in the mid-to-late...
  
   – brass
• Maurice Spears – brass
• Bill Summer – percussion
• Emily VanValkenburgh – strings
• Linda Wood – strings

Production

• Terry Becker – assistant engineer
• Phill Brown – mastering
• Fred Catero
  Fred Catero
  Fred Catero is an American record producer and engineer. Originally from New York, where he worked for CBS Records/Columbia, in the mid-1960s Catero moved to San Francisco to work for Columbia Records there. In San Francisco Catero worked on many albums by top artists, including Bob Dylan and...
  
   – engineer
• Herbie Hancock – composer, producer, string arrangements
• Steve Mantoani – engineer
• Chris Minto – assistant engineer
• Henri Renaud
  Henri Renaud
  Henri Renaud was a French jazz pianist and record company executive.His styles reflected the decades when he was musically active: he played in the Swing, Bebop and Cool styles. He developed renown internationally when he served as an ensemble-organizing point-man for visiting jazz performers...
  
   – producer
• David Rubinson – engineer, producer
• Cheryl Ward – assistant engineer
• Allee Willis
  Allee Willis
  Allee Willis is an American songwriter, artist, set designer, multimedia artist, writer, collector and director.-Overview:...
  
  – composer