Herbie Hancock – Fat Albert Rotunda (1969/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 33:56 minutes | 1,42 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Warner Records
Fat Albert Rotunda is the eighth studio album released by jazz legend Herbie Hancock. This is the first album the pianist put out under the Warner Bros. Record label, having previously been signed withBlue Note Records. The album was originally created for the TV special Hey, Hey, Hey, It’s Fat Albert.
Fat Albert Rotunda is the eighth album by jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock, released in 1969. It also was the first album that Hancock had on the Warner Bros. Records label, since leaving Blue Note Records. The music was originally done for the TV special Hey, Hey, Hey, It’s Fat Albert, which later inspired Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids TV show. Fat Albert Rotunda, along with Mwandishi and Crossings was reissued in one set as Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings in 1994.
Centered around some soundtrack music that Herbie Hancock wrote for Bill Cosby’s Fat Albert cartoon show, Fat Albert Rotunda was Hancock’s first full-fledged venture into jazz-funk — and his last until Head Hunters — making it a prophetic release. At the same time, it was far different in sound from his later funk ventures, concentrating on a romping, late-’60s-vintage R&B-oriented sound. with frequent horn riffs and great rhythmic comping and complex solos from Hancock’s Fender Rhodes electric piano. The syllables of the titles alone — “Wiggle Waggle,” “Fat Mama,” “Oh! Oh! Here He Comes” — have a rhythm and feeling that tell you exactly how this music saunters and swaggers along — just like the jolly cartoon character. But there is more to this record than fatback funk. There is the haunting, harmonically sophisticated “Tell Me a Bedtime Story” (which ought to become a jazz standard), and the similarly relaxed “Jessica.” The sextet on hand is a star-studded bunch, with Joe Henderson in funky and free moods on tenor sax, Johnny Coles on trumpet, Garnett Brown on trombone, Buster Williams on bass, and Albert “Tootie” Heath on drums. Only Williams would remain for Hancock’s 1977 electric V.S.O.P.: The Quintet album to come. In addition, trumpeter Joe Newman, saxophonist Joe Farrell, guitarist Eric Gale, and drummer Bernard Purdie make guest appearances on two tracks. –Richard S. Ginell
Tracklist:
01. Herbie Hancock – Wiggle Waggle (05:51)
02. Herbie Hancock – Fat Mama (03:49)
03. Herbie Hancock – Tell Me A Bedtime Story (05:02)
04. Herbie Hancock – Oh! Oh! Here He Comes (04:07)
05. Herbie Hancock – Jessica (04:12)
06. Herbie Hancock – Fat Albert Rotunda (06:28)
07. Herbie Hancock – Lil’ Brother (04:24)
