Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley got the New York jazz world talking the second he took the stage in 1955. Originally from Florida, this gregarious man had originally intended to pursue graduate studies and came to Manhattan to do so. He had been the high school band director at the Dillard High School in Ft. Lauderdale and had a local following as a musician there as well. He and his brother Nat had played with Ray Charles in the 1940s. But, he didn’t come to New York to play the clubs specifically. He wanted a higher education. By chance, he was asked to sit in with Oscar Pettiford one night at the Café Bohemia and that changed everything. Talk of a new Charlie Parker on the scene began immediately.
Soon Adderley had formed a group with his brother and they worked the club circuit and recorded a number of albums for the likes of Savoy and EmArcy Records. Eventually, Cannonball was brought in to join the Miles Davis Sextet, which he played with for two years. After his split from Davis’ group, Cannonball went on to help pioneer soul jazz, post-bop and a number of other subgenres.
Adderley was a fun-loving guy who liked the audience to have a good time, but he was also a thought-provoking artist and he addressed that with every genre that he played in. Oh, about that nickname? During Adderley’s youth, a guy in one of his early groups tried to make fun of his weight by calling him a “cannibal” but mispronounced it as can-i-bol. The other bandmates used “can-i-bol” to lightly make fun of the would-be mocker and the name eventually morphed into Cannonball. Or so the story goes. Anyway, here are the 10 best Cannonball Adderley albums to own on vinyl in chronological order.
Le premier album d’Adderley sorti en 1955 a établi le ton de ce qui allait suivre. Bien qu’il soit plein de morceaux dansants, les soli de Cannonball ici sont aventureux et confiants. La piste d’ouverture, Spontaneous Combustion, commence par un motif de piano araignée avant que le groupe ne se lance dans un groove bluesy parfait pour une soirée dansante en club. Au fur et à mesure que la chanson avance, elle change de rythme et nous sommes frappés par des solos de basse et de batterie. C'est du Cannonball classique ; toujours prêt pour un bon moment, mais n'oubliant jamais que le jazz est aussi un art. Ou peut-être vice versa. Cette ambiance se poursuit à travers l'album jusqu'à la fin. Un excellent écoute pour le printemps.
\nPrésentation était également le premier album de Nat Adderley, le frère de Cannonball et son collaborateur de toujours. Nat, qui était un trompettiste extrêmement talentueux, aurait son propre album solo publié à peine deux semaines après la sortie de Présentation de Cannonball Adderley. Se joignant aux frères Adderley, nous retrouvons Donald Byrd, Horace Silver, Hank Jones, Paul Chambers, Kenny Clarke et Jerome Richardson. Tous légendes de l’époque classique du bebop.
CJ Hurtt is a record nerd and writer who lives in a remote fishing village in the Pacific Northwest. His work has appeared in Word Riot, various games for Aegis Studios, and Brain Scan Comics.
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