A notice that my bandmate and brohammer Nick Di Maria just shared his Master’s thesis on the criminally overlooked Mwandishi-era Herbie Hancock recordings.
It’s a nice mix of musical analysis and behind-the-scenes business dealings (and tragically clueless execs who didn’t “get it”.)
I got into the Mwandishi stuff when a college bandmate recommended I check out Hancock’s “Fat Albert Rotunda” because it was really funky. I got the Warner Bros. double-CD with Fat Albert Rotunda on one side (I made my hippy jam band lift the chord progression for Wiggle Waggle:
And 4 Mwandishi-era tracks on the other:
(that bass clarinet riff is still killer)
I kind of dug it but it was a little too weird for me at the time – there was NO chance of playing tunes like this at the time in my actual life.
But, many years later, I’m pretty sure we played Ostinato in Nick Di Maria’s Kitchen Sink project.
Anyway, go read up about Mwandishi! And dig some afro-future funky space jazz.
nate trier 