''Fat Albert Rotunda'' is the eighth

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

keyboardist

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

, released in 1969. It was Hancock's first release for Warner Bros. Records after his departure from

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

. The music was originally done for the TV special '' Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert'', which later inspired the '' Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'' TV show. ''Fat Albert Rotunda'' and the two albums that followed it, '' Mwandishi'' and '' Crossings'', were reissued in one set as ''Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings'' in 1994 and as ''The Warner Bros. Years (1969-1972)'' in 2014.

Musicians and style

On this album Hancock changes to a

jazz-funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat, electrified sounds, and analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creation of a genre that ranges from ...

style with a playful 1960s R&B flavor, to fit the cartoon theme. He would not return to this style again until four years later with ''

Head Hunters ''Head Hunters'' is the twelfth studio album by American pianist, keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock, released October 26, 1973, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the evening at Wally Heider Studios and D ...

'' (1973). Hancock recorded the album in two sessions, with two different groups of musicians. Five songs were played by tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson (mostly playing flutes), trombonist Garnett Brown and trumpeter Johnny Coles, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath. The opening and closing tracks were played by trumpeters Joe Newman and Ernie Royal, saxophonists Joe Farrell and Art Clarke, trombonist

Benny Powell Benjamin Gordon Powell Jr. (March 1, 1930 – June 26, 2010) was an American jazz trombonist. He played both standard (tenor) trombone and bass trombone. Biography Born Benjamin Gordon Powell Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana, he first played pr ...

, guitarists

Eric Gale Eric Gale (September 20, 1938 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz and jazz fusion guitarist. Biography Eric Gale was born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. His grandfather was English, and Gale had relatives in Venezuela and Bar ...

and Billy Butler, bassist Jerry Jemmott, and drummer

Bernard Purdie Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie (born June 11, 1939) is an American drummer, and an influential R&B, soul, funk and jazz musician. He is known for his precise time-keeping and his signature use of Tuplet, triplets against a half-time backbeat: the P ...

. The various musician solos include Hancock playing on

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

electric piano.

Track listing

All songs composed by Herbie Hancock. (

Copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

Hancock Music Company- BMI)

Personnel

—

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

* Joe Henderson —

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

, flute,

alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, pitched below the standard C flute and the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is chara ...

* Garnett Brown —

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

* Johnny Coles —

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

, flugelhorn * Buster Williams — electric and acoustic

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Albert "Tootie" Heath —

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Joe Newman, Ernie Royal — trumpets (tracks 1 & 7, uncredited in original LP release) * Joe Farrell — tenor saxophone, alto saxophone (tracks 1 & 7, uncredited in original LP release) *Art Clarke — baritone saxophone (tracks 1 & 7, uncredited in original LP release) *

— trombone (tracks 1 & 7, uncredited in original LP release) *

, Billy Butler —

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(tracks 1 & 7, uncredited in original LP release) * Jerry Jemmott — electric bass (tracks 1 & 7, uncredited in original LP release) *

— drums (tracks 1 & 7, uncredited in original LP release)

Production

*Arranged and conducted by Herbie Hancock *Produced by Herbie Hancock *Recorded and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder

References

External links

* {{Authority control Herbie Hancock albums 1969 albums Warner Records albums Albums conducted by Herbie Hancock Albums arranged by Herbie Hancock 1960s instrumental albums Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio Albums produced by Herbie Hancock