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Cannonball Adderley
Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop.
Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own band while studying music at the U.S. Naval Academy and then led an army band while stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Originally nicknamed "Cannibal" in high school for his voracious appetite, the nickname mutated into "Cannonball" and stuck.
In 1955, Adderley traveled to New York City with his younger brother and lifelong musical partner, Nat Jr. (cornet). The elder Adderley sat in on a club date with bassist Oscar Pettiford and created such a furvor that he was signed almost immediately to a recording contract and was often (if not entirely accurately) called "the new Bird."
Adderley's direct style on alto was indebted to the biting clarity of Charlie Parker, but it also significantly drew from the warm, rounded tones of Benny Carter; hard swingers such as Louis Jordan and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson were important influences as well. Adderly became a seminal influence on the hard-driving style known as hard-bop, and could swing ferociously at faster tempos, yet he was also an effective and soulful ballad stylist.
From 1956-57, Adderley led his own band featuring Nat, pianist Junior Mance and bassist Sam Jones. The group broke up when he was invited to join the Miles Davis Quintet in 1957. Davis expanded his group to a Sextet soon thereafter by hiring saxophonist John Coltrane. "I felt that Cannonball's blues-rooted alto sax up against Trane's harmonic, chordal way of playing, his more free-form approach, would create a new kind of feeling," Davis explained in his autobiography.
From 1957-59, Adderley recorded some of his best work on the landmark Davis albums Milestones and Kind of Blue within this sextet. Davis reciprocated with a guest appearance on Adderly's 1958 solo album Somethin' Else, which also included bassist Jones, pianist Hank Jones, and drummer Art Blakey.
Adderley left the Davis band to reform his quintet in 1959, this time with his brother, Sam Jones, pianist Bobby Timmons and drummer Louis Hayes. Yusef Lateef made it a sextet around 1962; pianist Joe Zawinul replaced Timmons around 1963. Other band alumni include Charles Lloyd, and pianists Barry Harris, Victor Feldman and George Duke.
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Cannonball Adderley: Poppin In Paris: Live At L'Olympia 1972
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by Mike Jurkovic
In his most natural setting--onstage alongside brother Nat Adderley--and accompanied by pianist George Duke, bassist Walter Booker and the trusty Roy McCurdy on drums, Cannonball Adderley pops and bops to all heart's content on Poppin' In Paris: Live at the Olympia 1972 . Appearing as part of the Paris Jazz Festival, the band holds true to its unspoken credo--defy expectations--and steams straight ahead into Duke's epic rent party stomp Black Messiah." It is a colorful jazz-rock fireworks display ...
read moreCannonball Adderly: Burnin’ in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969
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by Mike Jurkovic
Intent on burning down the house, Burnin' in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969 finds Cannonball Adderley gleefully passing out the matches. Captured very, very, very live at the Bordeaux Jazz Festival in March 1969, Adderley and his fired up co-arsonists--pianist Joe Zawinul, cornetist Nat Adderley, Jr., bassist Victor Gaskin, and drummer Roy McCurdy--go scorched earth from the flare-up with Zawinul's spiky ember, the uber-toned The Scavenger." It rips, it roars. It runs wild the rapids and holds strong the ramparts. It ...
read moreRaul De Souza: Colors
![Read "Raul De Souza: Colors" reviewed by Arnaldo DeSouteiro](jpg/e2f3aef2bf71d863c6d64026abb5075e.jpg)
by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
Raul De Souza's life can be seen as a one-of-a-kind story. Indeed, it would make a perfect novel or film script. It may not be as big a tragedy as 'Round Midnight or Bird, but it has drama, love, adventure, and great music. Picture this: a poor child grows up in Brazil working as a weaver and practicing trombone in conversations with a buffalo in the jungle, dreaming of someday becoming an internationally famous jazzman. Suddenly, this dream ...
read moreThe Alto After Bird - Pepper, Woods, McLean, Adderley (1957 - 1960)
![Read "The Alto After Bird - Pepper, Woods, McLean, Adderley (1957 - 1960)" reviewed by Russell Perry](jpg/33028697a7dd599628231fdd1314680c.jpg)
by Russell Perry
When Charlie Parker died at 34 in 1955, it was as if an ancient tree fell in the forest with the resulting sunlight promoting the growth of numerous alto saxophone progeny. Art Pepper appeared in Stan Kenton's Orchestra in 1950 and by 1953 was recording as a leader while still collaborating with West Coast colleagues like Shorty Rogers and Chet Baker. In 1957, his LP Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section signaled the maturity of a singular improviser from the ...
read moreCannonball: A Man of the People
![Read "Cannonball: A Man of the People" reviewed by Rob Rosenblum](jpg/c8133a7e383cbb2a3dd61acb174606c7.jpg)
by Rob Rosenblum
This interview was conducted at Union College in Schenectady, New York in 1971 and was originally published in an arts newspaper called Transition. Julian Cannonball Adderley was only three when he began to dig jazz and his hunger for his music is yet to be satiated. The first music he remembers hearing was in church. His mother was the organist of an Episcopal church. This church background has had a profound effect on his playing. His father played ...
read moreIntroducing Reel to Real Records
![Read "Introducing Reel to Real Records" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard](jpg/01582a216a0174c06144b64071ccb816.jpg)
by Jakob Baekgaard
As the driving force behind the Cellar Live label, saxophonist Cory Weeds has been busy doing his share to promote contemporary jazz, so it comes as a pleasant surprise that he has found the time to start the archive label Reel to Real. Unlike reissues that are sometimes lost treasures that are found again, an archive release is a found treasure that has never been heard before. Weeds has found the perfect partner in producer Zev Feldman ...
read moreJulian "Cannonball" Adderley: Swingin' in Seattle, Live at the Penthouse 1966-1967
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by Luca Canini
Un imperdibile e prezioso inedito. Settanta minuti di musica mai ascoltati prima che arrivano dritti dritti dalla seconda metà degli anni Sessanta. Un periodo cruciale per Julian Cannonball Adderley e il suo quintetto, freschi di approdo alla californiana Capitol, etichetta con le spalle decisamente più larghe e molto meno ortodossa" rispetto alla newyorchese Riverside, e lanciati verso il botto clamoroso di Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!," brano uscito dalla penna soulful di Joe Zawinul (determinante l'intuizione di sostituire il piano con il ...
read moreArchival Releases From The Cannonball Adderley Quintet, Dizzy Gillespie And Cal Tjader Out May 17 From Liberation Hall
![Archival Releases From The Cannonball Adderley Quintet, Dizzy Gillespie And Cal Tjader Out May 17 From Liberation Hall](jpg/d5cb4901ad795b870bd3a6293b1242a0.jpg)
Source:
Prime Mover Media
Liberation Hall has announced archival jazz releases from Cannonball Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie, and Cal Tjader. All titles will arrive in stores May 17 and be distributed by MVD Entertainment Group (USA) and Wienerworld (UK). The Cannonball Adderley QuintetLive in Montreal May 1975(Liberation Hall, 2024) The great Julian Cannonball" Adderley rose to prominence in the hard-bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. After a successful stint with Miles Davis’s sextet —including being featured on the seminal Davis records Milestones ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley](jpg/33028697a7dd599628231fdd1314680c.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Cannonball Adderley's birthday today!
Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own band ...
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Something Else! Vincent Herring Septet Honors Cannonball Adderley At Birdland from September 6-10, 2022
![Something Else! Vincent Herring Septet Honors Cannonball Adderley At Birdland from September 6-10, 2022](jpg/f59c3cdfb729bd2175d5df5c70f8c5c1.jpg)
Source:
Scott Thompson Public Relations
Something Else!, will launch at Birdland on September 6-10, 2022 with two sets a night at Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater. The shows will feature Vincent Herring, alto saxophone, James Carter, tenor sax, Jeremy Pelt, trumpet, Russell Malone, guitar, David Kikoski, piano, Essiet Essiet, bass and Johnathan Blake, drums. Something Else! is the only Blue Note album by Cannonball Adderley recorded and released in 1958 and became an iconic masterpiece presenting funky, soulful and bluesy Jazz which was the ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley](jpg/33028697a7dd599628231fdd1314680c.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Cannonball Adderley's birthday today!
Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own band ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley](jpg/33028697a7dd599628231fdd1314680c.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Cannonball Adderley's birthday today!
Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own band ...
read more
Portrait Of Cannonball Adderley: Award-Winning Saxophonist Tony Kofi Readies “Another Kind Of Soul” For April 24th Release
![Portrait Of Cannonball Adderley: Award-Winning Saxophonist Tony Kofi Readies “Another Kind Of Soul” For April 24th Release](jpg/b9518cd0fa88d2982030e5a5ef8e31b0.jpg)
Source:
The Last Music Company
BBC and Parliamentary Jazz Awards winner Tony Kofi will release Another Kind of Soul 24th April on The Last Music Company label. The album, recorded live at Luton’s Bear Club in 2019 by Paul Riley, also features Andy Davies on trumpet, pianist Alex Webb, bassist Andrew Cleyndert and Alfonso Vitale on drums. The session traces the explosive music of Cannonball Adderley from his first sessions as leader in the mid-1950s through his work with Miles Davis to the soul-jazz of ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley](jpg/33028697a7dd599628231fdd1314680c.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Julian Cannonball" Adderley's birthday today!
Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own ...
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Cannonball Adderley: EmArcy #1
![Cannonball Adderley: EmArcy #1](jpg/0453bce9139ab1e626d0397b225ec575.jpg)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Born in Tampa, Fla., and raised in Tallahassee, alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley studied music at Florida A&M before becoming the band director at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. In 1955, Adderley moved to New York to explore studying at graduate-level music schools. He was joined by his brother, trumpeter and cornetist Nat Adderley, who had been on tour with Lionel Hampton. As the story goes, the Adderley brothers brought their instruments to the Café Bohemia at 15 Barrow Street ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley](jpg/33028697a7dd599628231fdd1314680c.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Julian Cannonball" Adderley's birthday today!
Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own ...
read more