Fat Albert Rotunda - Herbie Hancock (1970)

I was well familiar with the Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids show as a part of my Saturday morning diet when I was a kid. I didn’t know it had started from the similarly-named Hey Hey Hey It’s Fat Albert, a very different, still fun, but somewhat more grown up animated Cosby memoir with a similar cast of characters. (Funny how Cosby’s confessional storytelling style seemed to omit all the drugging and assaulting of women he was doing at the time. Can’t imagine why…)

Anyway, the show was soundtracked by Herbie Hancock, having recently split from the second Miles Davis Quintet, and just hitting his stride in the world of funky post-bop jazz.

Recorded mostly with a sextet (and a few features thrown in), we get something that’s not quite as distinctive as the razor-sharp funk Hancock would be making in a few years, but shines by staying closer to his tuneful and melodic roots.

The horn charts stay up front, while Herbie’s electric piano is often lower in the mix. It doesn’t stop him from underwriting the whole band with a furiously busy attack. The rhythm section is rock solid, and it keeps everything on an even footing.

Tracks I Liked

Wiggle Waggle - Riff-based goodness with lots of headroom to let everybody solo

Fat Mama - More of a group number with repeating choruses and an even mix

Tell Me a Bedtime Story - calmer and more ornate than a lot of the record, letting Hancock cut loose with the melody line