For Cannonball Adderley fans, his Riverside label recording years covering the late 50s into the early 60’s were his prime period, before he moved on to Capitol Records and a more pop/jazz sound, with less of the gritty soul jazz for which he is remembered. As part of the Concord reissue series, Riverside Profiles, they have cherry- picked many of the true timeless Cannonball classics into this collection. Including a free bonus disc of other Riverside artists’ works such as Bobby Timmons’ Dat Dere (a nice counterpoint to the Adderley’s, This Here, which also featured Timmons), and other masters like Wes Montgomery, Chet Baker, Bill Evans, Art Blakey, and Monk, make the purchase of this 2-fer bargain-priced collection a win/win offer. It would make a perfect gift to introduce new jazz fans to the funky brilliance of Cannonball and Nat Adderley, as well as entice them to sample other treasures of the Riverside catalog. You can’t fault Concord for their marketing genius.
But back to the Adderleys: Covering their Riverside years the listener is exposed to prime band pianists Wynton Kelly, Bobby Timmons, Bill Evans, and Joe Zawinul – each a master with their own later groups but clearly at home in the soul jazz world of Julian and Nat. This period of the Adderleys also featured Yusef Lateef on tenor sax before Yusef began his own journey into the world of African, world and avant music that continues to this day.
Not much more needs to be said of the song selections here as the CD features only the prime cuts of live and studio work such as Nardis, Jive Samba, African Waltz, and Work Song, just to name some of the highlights. Cannonball’s star was taken much too early from us and although Nat continued his jazz journey for many more years, there is nothing like the brothers Adderley to lift your soul- jazz spirits. The original recordings were produced by the great Orrin Keepnews, and Joe Tarantino has done a nice job with the remastering duties. If you don’t already have these jazz classics, certainly you must have friends who deserve to be rewarded with this classic collection along with the bonus CD of timeless Riverside artists to sweeten the pot.
TrackList: This Here, Dizzy’s Business, Nardis, Things are Getting Better, Jive Samba, Star Eyes, African Waltz, Know What I Mean, Work Song
– Jeff Krow