Search - Cannonball Adderley :: Ultimate Cannonball Adderley

Fine selection by Zawinul, Cannonball at his Best

Richard LeFebvere | Chicago, Il, USA | 07/28/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cannonball Adderly is truly one of the great sounds in jazz history. Often taking a back seat in jazz lore to Coltrane, Miles, Bird, and Duke, Adderly's tone and spirited improvisation made him second best to no one. Adderly was an integral part of some of the greatest jazz albums ever made: foremost among them is the Miles Davis classic "Kind of Blue" and Adderly's own "Somthin' Else" with Davis and his album with Davis alumni Bill Evans, "Know What I Mean?" The tracks on this album luckily don't sample from those classsics but go for his more obscure 1950's recordings, for the most part. On all the tracks here, you can hear the effortless perfection of some of the best and unheralded jazz groups in history. Jazz pianist Joe Zawinul has made excellent selections; the only drawback is that he was not able to select some of the great Capitol recordings on which Zawinul himself played in the Adderly Quintet. But the selections are more than worth the purchase price: "Jubilation" is the epitome of the integrated, flowing soul that defined the jazz sound of the late 50's early 60's, while both "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" and "Casa de Marcel" are perfect blends of big-band continental swing and sophisticated modern bop. The ballads, especially "Little Girl Blue" and "I'm Glad There is You" show a highly intimate and personal quality, and nothing need be said about four tracks with John Coltrane that show the rich musical partnership these men forged. In short, an album not to be missed by jazz fans."