Herbie Hancock-Fat Albert Rotunda (1969)

After his time as a member of Miles Davis's band, keyboardist Herbie Hancock resumed his solo career in the late 1960s, releasing a series of highly regarded jazz albums. In 1969, he recorded his ninth album, "Fat Albert Rotunda", surrounded by a group of top-notch musicians, including guitarists Eric Gale and Billy Butler, drummer Bernard Purdie, and bassist Buster Williams, as well as a large horn section featuring Joe Newman, Garnett Brown, Joe Henderson, and Benny Powell. On this recording, Hancock showcased a sound influenced by the Los Angeles music scene, as well as film and television, all under the influence of jazz, rock, and funk. The album was originally conceived as the soundtrack for Bill Cosby's television show, "Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids". Tracks with a clear R&B accent and jazzy rhythms like "Wiggle Waggle", jazz fusion like "Fat Mama" and "Tell Me A Bedtime Story", funk jazz "Oh! Oh! Here He Comes" and "Fat Albert Rotunda", or cinematic canvases of funk and R&B like "Lil' Brother", complete a superb and captivating album of the best jazz rock of the late sixties.