Jazz Collector’s Essential Cannonball Adderley
Blipp asks on an earlier post if we can make any recommendations on Cannonball Adderley’s earlier material, in particular the Mercury records. We can certainly do that, and we’re sure others in the audience will be happy to weigh in as well. First, we will give our own Jazz Collector version of our top five Cannonball LPs altogether. Blipp has been listening mostly to the Capitol stuff, he says, and we don’t think any of those records is going to make our list. Here goes:
1. Cannonball Adderley, Know What I Mean with Bill Evans, Riverside 433. Evans and Adderley obviously had a great rapport from their days with Miles and the addition of Percy Heath and Connie Kay made for a more lyrical setting that suited both Evans and Adderley quite well. And, as one might expect, within that lyrical setting they both swing like crazy.
2. Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco, Recorded at the Jazz Workshop, Riverside 311. The ground-breaking early quintet with Bobby Timmons and the great tracks of “This Here” (with Cannonball’s engaging introduction) and “Hi-Fly,” plus a very swinging “Spontaneous Combustion.” This LP captured the energy of the group