Cannonball Adderley

Cannonball Adderley gave up his own band in 1957 when he had the opportunity to become a sideman in Miles Davis' epic ensemble with John Coltrane, eventually resulting in some of the greatest jazz recordings of all time (including Milestones and Kind of Blue). Davis returned the favor in March of 1958, appearing as a sideman on Adderley's all-star quintet date for Blue Note, and the resulting session is indeed Somethin' Else. Both horn players are at their peak of lyrical invention, crafting gorgeous, flowing blues lines on the title tune and "One for Daddy-O," as the rhythm team (Hank Jones, Sam Jones, Art Blakey) creates a taut, focused groove (pianist Hank Jones' sly, intuitive orchestrations are studies of harmonic understatement).

One of the great alto saxophonists, Cannonball Adderley had an exuberant and happy sound that communicated immediately to listeners. His intelligent presentation of his music (often explaining what he and his musicians were going to play) helped make him one of the most popular of all jazzmen.

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." To recap briefly, Cannonball came up to New York in the mid-'5Os with a thorough background as a player and teacher in Florida, and soon found himself lauded, recorded, and a working bandleader.

In 1963 Cannonball Adderley signed with the Capitol label, retaining the rights to some master tapes recorded earlier while he was with Riverside. This CD (a straight reissue of an earlier LP) therefore contains music much closer to the altoist's freewheeling Riverside period than to his R&Bish Capitol dates. Adderley's greatest band - his sextet with cornetist Nat Adderley, Yusef Lateef (on tenor, flute and oboe), pianist Joe Zawinul, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Louis Hayes - is featured on such exciting numbers as "Jessica's Day," Jones' "Unit 7," and "The Jive Samba." A special treat of this live date is hearing the leader's introductory words to several of the songs.

This CD presents the complete original album "Cannonball's Bossa Nova," which was Cannonball Adderleys contribution to the bossa nova craze that pervaded the United States in the early 1960s. For this special occasion, he wasnt backed by his usual group, but by an authentic bossa nova formation featuring celebrated Brazilian musicians, like pianist Sergio Mendes, future Weather Report percussionist Dom Um Romao, and guitarist Durval Ferreira.
Two alternate versions from the same sessions, as well as the saxophonists earliest existing recording of his brother Nat Adderleys The Jive Samba taped by Cannonballs regular group (featuring Nat) have been included as bonus tracks. The latter song would become a regular feature in the quintets repertoire. As a further bonus, a complete session featuring Cannonball (who plays solos on all tracks) and Milt Jackson.

Recorded live in Tokyo on July 14th and 15th, 1963, Nippon Soul is not the Asian-jazz fusion suggested by the title (check out Cal Tjader's Several Shades of Jade and Breeze From the East for that), but a solid live set that showcases one of Cannonball Adderley's finest groups, featuring himself, brother Nat Adderley on cornet, bassist Sam Jones, drummer Louis Hayes, and most notably pianist Joe Zawinul and reedsman Yusef Lateef. Both near the beginnings of their careers, Zawinul and Lateef nonetheless dominate this set; two of the original tracks are by Lateef, including the centerpiece "Brother John," for John Coltrane and featuring an astonishing extended Lateef solo on oboe, an instrument not normally associated with jazz, but which takes on an almost Middle Eastern fluidity and grace in its approximation of Coltrane's "sheets of sound" technique…

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…