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.
O álbum de estreia de Adderley, de 1955, definiu o tom do que estava por vir. Embora cheio de faixas dançantes, os solos de Cannonball aqui são aventureiros e confiantes. A faixa de abertura, Spontaneous Combustion, começa com uma figura de piano semelhante a uma teia de aranha antes que a banda mergulhe em um groove bluesy perfeito para uma noite de dança no clube. À medida que a faixa avança, muda de marcha e somos atingidos por solos de baixo e bateria. Este é o Cannonball clássico; sempre pronto para se divertir, mas nunca esquecendo que jazz também é arte. Ou talvez o contrário. Esta vibração continua ao longo do álbum até o fim. Definitivamente uma ótima audição para a primavera.
\nApresentando também foi a estreia do irmão de Cannonball e colaborador de longa data, Nat Adderley. Nat, que era um trompetista bastante talentoso, teria seu próprio álbum solo lançado apenas duas semanas após Apresentando Cannonball Adderley chegar às lojas. Também se uniram aos irmãos Adderley Donald Byrd, Horace Silver, Hank Jones, Paul Chambers, Kenny Clarke e Jerome Richardson. Todos eles são lendas da era clássica do bebop do jazz.
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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