Adderley Me, Pt. 2
The second Adderley post is of Cannonball Adderley from his rendition of “Autumn Leaves” off his album Somethin’ Else (Blue Note, 1958). The cast on this album is quite ridiculous: Cannonball Adderley - alto sax, Miles Davis - trumpet, Sam Jones - bass, Hank Jones (no relation) - piano, Art Blakey - drums.
I was introduced to this song while attending a class on Miles Davis taught by the great Lewis Nash, one of the greatest living jazz drummers (if you ever hear Lewis Nash is playing somewhere, go see him - he’s amazing, and he is a really nice guy too). It’s funny because although this class was dedicated to Miles Davis, Nash showed us this song so we could hear Cannonball’s solo.
Miles solos first and then Cannonball comes in around the 2 minute mark and WOOWEE! I don’t know if I’ve heard a more soulful, adventurous, all around beautiful solo narrative like this in some time. There are so many great moments its hard to highlight one without dimishing from the story as a whole. One part that especially kills me is the line between the 3:12 and 3:22 minute mark. Again, the whole thing is amazing and I could sit here and talk about each little part, but I’ll just let Cannonball’s horn speak for itself.
Because Tumblr can’t upload files over a certain size, I had to trim the audio file down to post it. You can hear the full song on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHtQn1t1n4
If you listen to this, Hank Jones messing around on the keys at around 8:45 is so good; its laid back, bluesy, and almost dark at moments. Enjoy
Jake
Sirjakus@gmail.com
2 years ago