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Rating: "Mwandishi" is from '71 while "Fat Albert Rotunda" from '74.
Prolific years for Herbie, the early seventies: after getting married, naively believing to have found a stable 'gig' with Davis, a real chameleon and fickle employer, for a precise and methodical soul like Herbie, while he was on his honeymoon in Brazil enjoying the sun and discovering 'little things' like Milton Nascimento, he was replaced mid-tour by Chick Corea!!!
Upon his return, sink or swim, he found himself by necessity... 'leader of his own destiny' and thus began working around and recording a series of increasingly beautiful and eclectic works, reaching the absolute peak (in terms of 'funkyness' and worldwide sales success) with 'Head Hunters' (buy it blindfolded if you don't have it, and discover another wonderful and essential gem). During this period of 'psychedelic trip', Hancock experimented with various line-ups, different musical dimensions, all equally fascinating, new, and fresh.
In the two works in question, we find various remarkable things, such as intense electrification, the predominant use of the Fender piano, the electric bass, and a successful contamination between black popular music and jazz, evidenced by significant sales, both in the period and subsequently up unto today, also thanks to the objective catchiness and singability of the tracks and choruses. In this respect, H.H. managed to... 'hit the corporate targets' decidedly better than master Miles. However, at a certain time in the early seventies, he ended up even playing as... support, as an 'opening act' for the superstar Hancock: legend has it that when Herbie went to greet Miles in the dressing room on the first night of the tour, not forgetting who Miles really was, he was greeted with a direct and nice '…whaaat? Get the fuck out of here… '!!!
'Mwandishi' has only three tracks:
Ostinato (13 minutes) You'll know when you'll get there (10 minutes) and Wandering spirit song (over 21 minutes). In the first piece, there is an obsessive riff repeated throughout, with Fender piano chords accompanying and highlighting the entries of the horns for an atmosphere like… a spaceship journey.
In the second, there is a more nocturnal, subdued, and rarefied dimension; with the flute quietly 'moving' the music.
In the third, there is a more para-jazz climate, with forays into free jazz and the attempt to… 'canonize the extreme which is inherently uncanonizable'; music of the highest level, not easily defined. An album to enjoy absolutely and discover gradually, with repeated listening.
'Fat Albert Rotunda' instead has seven tracks:
1) 'Wiggle waggle' starts with a little Indian intro to immediately transform into a captivating and loaded R&B. Tamla Motown stuff, you know; Sam & Dave, Otis, etc.
2) 'Fat Mama' stays in territory, with nods to the music of Eumir Deodato and the prevailing beat of the time.
3) 'Tell me a bedtime story' takes you on board a magic carpet, with a dreamy and relaxed mood; with flugelhorn and muted horns. A background of high class.
4) 'Oh, Oh: here he comes' is the demonstration of how the Fender piano could be the defining element of that period, from Herbie to Stevie Wonder, the instrument is the rhythmic and timbral pivot for a piece that, even on just one chord, remains varied and stimulating.
5) 'Jessica' is a wonderful song, here presented acoustically (also present in the masterpiece VSOP, do you remember?). Of absolute regard and quality. A high-level gem among the 'popular' music that instead infuses the album.
6) 'Fat Albert Rotunda' re-plunges you into intelligent R&B and makes you want to dance again. The solos follow one another on a sparse but aggressive 'vamp' base, with precise and sharp horn arrangements. 7) 'Lil' brother' is the concluding 'funky statement', with an eye on George Benson, one on Quincy Jones, and… another on the dance floor (three eyes?)
In conclusion, two very different records, but both beautiful and revealing of the personality, tastes, and remarkable capabilities expressed by a great contemporary artist.
Even here: accattateville!!!
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