Herbie Hancock - “Tell Me a Bedtime Story”

Fat Albert Rotunda (1969) was the first album released for legendary jazz pianist / keyboardist Herbie Hancock after leaving Blue Note Records. It represents a precursor for the jazz fusion that he would spearhead and later help establish in the 1970s. Originally written for the soundtrack to Bill Cosby’s cartoon special which shares the same name, illustrates the artist’s move away from his jazz roots; embracing more of the R&B and soul of the 1960s. The album has Joe Henderson, Joe Farrell, Garnett Brown, Johnny Coles, and Joe Newman on windwards, Albert “Tootie” Heath and Bernard Purdie on drums, Eric Gale on guitar, Buster Williams on bass, and of course Hancock on keys. “Jessica”, “You Know When You Get There”, and “Tell Me a Bedtime Story” standout on the record. With the latter being a complexity of harmonics worthy of being a jazz standard on the level of the title track off of his seminal work “Maiden Voyage”.                                                                                 - J After Dark

---