Cannonball Adderley

arazi440 · Jun 16, 2006

Wondered if you guys like his playing, great improviser, he certainly had some style, love this track with his brother Natt 🙂

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/cannonball+adderley/video/76163

Pete Thomas · Jun 16, 2006

One of the real pioneers of funk to.

I also have an album "Accent on Africa", he's playing some great African stuff with a big band, also uses some effects on his saxophone like an octave divider.

Bobby G · Jun 16, 2006

That sounds interesting, Pete, I'll have to check that out.

I love Cannonball, he was the first player I got into big-style after dipping my toe in the ocean that is jazz via Miles, Monk, Mingus, Trane etc. I have a few of his albums, quite a lot of them are live, and as well as a lot of great improvising there's a real sense that the band are getting down with the audience. I also like Cannon's between-tune chat, there's definitely a sense of a man who loves what he does and likes to communicate. Soinds like a nice bloke!

Somethin' Else was the album where it all started for me, both my love of Cannonball Adderley and jazz in general.

philippe · Jun 16, 2006

Wondered if you guys like his playing, great improviser, he certainly had some style, love this track with his brother Natt 🙂

I always go back to Cannonball... To me his is jazz, a great player, superb phrasing, punchy lines, great sound... and deeply rooted in the blues. And his music is alive and full of joy. One of the greatests.

Bobby G · Jun 16, 2006

Couldn't have put it better myself Phillipe. I also love the contrasts between Cannon's, Coltrane's and Miles' styles with the Davis sextet (basically the first classic quintet plus Cannon), including the sublime Kind of Blue album.

Cannonball = joy, both in his playing and hearing him.

Any recommendations for his 'proto-funk' gratefully received as at the moment I only have earlier stuff. Presumably tunes like 'Work Song' and 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy' are examples?

Lisa · Sep 1, 2006

Thanks for the introduction chaps, just found Cannonball and I love his sound.

🙂

Bobby G · Sep 1, 2006

Check out some great clips of Cannonball on Youtube. You can hardly see his fingers move - so *that's* how you do it!

Cheers, Bob

funkymonk · Sep 7, 2006

Hey guys I've got some of his stuff and I'm quite liking it. At the moment I'm looking for some funk sax and am having a hard time, could you reccomend some of his funky stuff or any other players?
Much appreciated

oliver_bentley · Sep 7, 2006

If you like cannonball's funky stuff, you'll love Joshua Redman, he studied cannonball's stuff a lot, and is perhaps the closest thing to a modern cannonball, (except he's skiny and plays tennor). Try his Elastic album, a great record by all accounts.

spike · Sep 7, 2006

@Funkymonk,
You probably won't find anybody funkier than Maceo Parker - in his own words "2 per cent jazz, 98 per cent funk". Influenced by among others Cannon, Fathead Newman and Hank Crawford.

Bobby G · Sep 12, 2006

Hank Crawford is a fine, fine player. I have a Jimmy Mcgriff CD called Right Turn on Blue featuring Hank.

It's essentially an organ jazz album, although Mcgriff I think always saw himself as a blues player; the album is basically several blues tunes but with enough variations and changes to keep it interesting for the more jazz-oriented. It's great for playing along to.

Meanwhile, another side to Cannonball's playing; Dancing in the Dark on the Somethin' Else album shows him at his lyrical best. It still has the Cannon joy of music through it, but is very melodic and thoughtful in style, with a gorgeous tone and beautiful playing. Definitely another dimension to the man, aside from the punchy blues-shot playing you usually associate with Cannonball.

It's odd, isn't it, that every once in a while a very familiar, much-loved tune still has the power to transfix you as if hearing it for the first time.

Cheers, Bob

ken_aust · Sep 13, 2006

Nothing beats his version of " Whats New ", recorded 1958from "Cannonballs Sharpshooters" with Nat,Junior Mance,Sam Jones,Jimmy Cobb.
Mercury MG36135
Ken

Bobby G · Sep 13, 2006

Thanks for that info, Ken. I'll try and track it down.

Cheers, Bob

p.s. anything with Sam Jones on it seems to be worth hearing!

frank_johnson · Jan 13, 2007

Don't want to sound moribund, but Cannonball's rendition of "Flamingo" is one of the chosen pieces when I fall off my perch!!
Frank >:)

Bobby G · Jan 13, 2007

Talking of falling off your perch, did you know that the most popular song to get played at funerals is the most maudlin, trite, whiny, banal, self-pitying, repetitive, bleating, tuneless, dull, sappy, lifeless, droning, spirit-sapping and generally bedwettingly ennui-inducing song Goodbye My Lover by James Blunt? And I'm complimenting it by considering it a song. Talk about the deceased getting their own back.

Cheers, Bob