Fat Mama - Mamatus (1997)

Chart-heavy fusion makes up the bulk of Fat Mama's debut album. While the band owes a strong allegiance to the likes of Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, they do away with the clean, antiseptic sounds of '80s jazz, instead relying on dirty-sounding keyboards, driven horn parts, and powerful drums to create their statement. The band are adept players but rarely digress into showboaty soloing. Instead, they focus on a powerful, danceable groove. Though there are signs of the electronica that would make up the bulk of their later work, most of this album is filled with strong, clear compositions with smart heads, such as keyboardist Erik Deutsch's "Pure Class" and "Pimp Slap" and Jonathan Goldberger's "GefilteLuv." Though faintly derivative of Medeski Martin and Wood in places, the band has enough talent and personality to indicate their latent originality and add enough distinct parts to the equation to make this a worthwhile release.