By Mark Towns
Published: February 6 1997, Houston Press
Back before smooth jazz radio was a gleam in some programmer’s eye, Fattburger was saturating Southern California clubs with a sound they called R&J, short for rhythm and jazz. Charter members Carl Evans Jr. (keyboards), Mark Hunter (bass), Tommy Aros (percussion) and Kevin Koch (drums) had already performed with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Cannonball Adderly, Herbie Mann, Clark Terry, Freddie Hubbard and Trini Lopez before coming together in San Diego more than a decade ago. They could have had no idea at the time that their success on the West Coast would parallel the increasing popularity of the jazz sub-genre soon to be defined by its “smooth” modifier. Seven releases later, Fattburger is now an essential ingredient in contemporary jazz and adult contemporary formats nationwide. While melodic funkiness remains the basic element of its formula, Fattburger’s latest release, All Natural Ingredients, delves some into hip-hop and Latin jazz. The band describes it as more “hard-hitting” than its previous work, and it seems like a logical enough ingredient for success: Hit ’em hard on-stage, smooth ’em over everywhere else. At Rockefeller’s, 3620 Washington Avenue, at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday, February 9. Tickets are $15 to $25. Chuck Loeb opens. 869-TICS.