Cannonball Adderley

Depending on the nature of the person involved, success either dictates more and more compulsive activity, or else it permits relaxation. With Cannonball Adderley, the latter certainly appears to be the case; and this album can, among other things, serve as a testimonial to the truth of this impression. Adderley is undeniably a successful, widely-acclaimed artist, and it may seem to some that his success came quickly. But it is more in the nature of what one night-club comic once referred to bitterly as "my overnight success after fifteen years."

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (nicknamed for his estimable appetite, related to high school friends who called him a cannibal) made his debut in the jazz world with this album, with enormous help from Quincy Jones, who assembled the band, lent arrangements, and composed many of the selections. It's clear from the outset that Adderley's main influences were Benny Carter and Charlie Parker, and he was able to synthesize both icons into a sound that was so seamless, and tasteful like butter. This little big band of all-stars included brother Nat Adderley on cornet, and a band with slight personnel changes over three separate recording sessions in the late summer of 1955. Adderley could hardly go wrong working with heavyweights like J.J. Johnson, Cecil Payne, Jerome Richardson, Jimmy Cleveland, Paul Chambers, pianist John Williams, and either Max Roach or Kenny Clarke playing the drum kit…

One of the defining players of the 1950s and 1960s hard bop era, Julian Edwin Cannonball Adderley remains one of the most respected and fondly-remembered saxophonists in all of jazz. With a sound that was uniquely his own and a repertoire that saw him support - and in turn be supported by - some of the greatest musicians and groups to emerge during the period, Adderley is the stuff of legend. A huge fan of the playing of Charlie Parker and a fierce defender of the entire genre, Adderley s talents rank highly alongside the likes of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and his catalogue of work as a bandleader is still today among the finest of any jazz master. This collection contains the first eight albums released by Cannonball Adderley as bandleader…