Fat Albert Rotunda – Herbie Hancock (1969) [FLAC]

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. – **** 1/2, AllMusic

Taken from Bill Cosby’s TV series, this album is superb from start to finish. Similar in feel (although more hip jazzy) to The Adventurers rescore by Quincy Jones, there’s so many good tracks on here that it’s difficult to pick the good ones. Suffice to say it’s been sampled many times, from the snappy funky jazz of Wiggle Waggle to Fat Mama. The band are super-tight, really spacious and jazzy in tone, with plenty of strong brass work over some very, very groovy backline. A pleasure to listen to, and highly recommended. – Blaxploitation Pride

1. Wiggle-Waggle (5:51)
2. Fat Mama (3:49)
3. Tell Me a Bedtime Story (5:01)
4. Oh! Oh! Here He Comes (4:08)
5. Jessica (4:13)
6. Fat Albert Rotunda (6:29)
7. Lil’ Brother (4:26)

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Is it a vinyl rip?