Bill Cosby Presents Badfoot Brown & The Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band

Add to
Watch List

A funky masterpiece from Bill Cosby – hardly the sort of record you might expect from all of his years on mainstream TV! This set was cut back when Bill was a much hipper cat on the LA scene – and it was the start of a brief all-instrumental run with his Badfoot Brown ensemble – a group who's not named in the notes on the record, but who offer up some seriously funky grooves! Bill supposedly plays keyboards himself – some really mad electric piano that's often repetitive, cyclical, and really hypnotic – a tripped-out style that's more funk than jazz, and which is easily one of the best parts of the record. But the rhythms are great too – equally hypnotic, and build up from bass, organ, guitar, and this whomping sort of drum part – echoing strongly in the background and really bringing a spooky feel to the set. Side one includes the amazing "Martin's Funeral" – sampled famously by Tribe Called Quest, and a 15 minute jam that's inspired by the funeral of Martin Luther King. Side two features "Hybish Shybish", an even longer track that's sort of an improvised jazz game – and which features tripped-out instrumental trading that's simply amazing. The whole record is really mindblowing – a messed-up jam session that's well worth the legend that's been built up around it over the years – and we're hard-pressed to think of another album like it! And as a special bonus, the package features these really long notes written by Bill Cosby himself – words that are as unusual as the music, and a side of him that's hardly been shown again.  © 1996-2024, Dusty Groove, Inc.