Coati Mundi - The Former 12 Year Old Genious (Vinyl, original spanish pressing) (1983)

×

Coati Mundi - The Former 12 Year Old Genious (Vinyl, original spanish pressing) (1983)

Close

Coati Mundi is the stage name of Andy Hernandez, vibraphone player and member of Kid Creole and the Coconuts as well as Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. Mundi has worked with assorted musical groups and artists including Ralfi Pagan, Joe Bataan, Vernon Reid, N'Dea Davenport, Nona Hendryx, Tito Puente, Manny Oquendo & Conjunto Libre, Hall & Oates and Machito. He was known as Sugarcoated Andy while in Dr. Buzzard's band and played vibes, marimba and percussion for them. Credits Stony Browder, August Darnell and Cory Daye of Dr.Buzzard's band as major influences. In 1979, he helped create along with Adriana Kaegi the "Kid Creole and The Coconuts" band. Andy was the musical director and arranger for the Coconuts band until his departure in 1989. Mundi is a self-taught musician. Main instrument is the vibraphone but also plays piano, percussion, flute and is a music arranger/composer. In an interview, he once said: "I have never let the lack of talent stop me from doing anything". He cited an example of this regarding the "Gichy Dan and Beachwood 9" record produced by August Darnell. He was being interviewed for the job of arranger-orchestrator by the Head of A&R at RCA records. Andy was asked if he knew how to arrange for strings. He said without hesitation "Of course". Andy convinced RCA Records to give him the job. In actuality, he did not know a thing about string arrangements. Immediately after the interview, he bought a book on arranging for strings and woodshedded day and night. What resulted was a successful arrangement job. He even received a wonderful compliment from the great violinist Harry Lookofsky who served as concertmaster on the date. In 1983, he released his only solo album titled Little Coati Mundi The Former 12 Year Old Genius. Mundi composed, produced and provided the lead vocals. It contained a version of Captain Beefheart's "Tropical Hot Dog Night" featuring salsa singer Rubén Blades. The album also featured former Kid Creole & The Coconut singer Lori Eastside.