Florida-born alto saxophonist
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (1928), who had played with Miles Davis (1957),
made a number of interesting recordings in 1958
(Somethin' Else in march with the supergroup
of Miles Davis, Hank Jones, Sam Jones and Art Blakey;
the nine-part four-movement suite on folk themes for jazz quartet
Alabama Concerto in august 1958;
Things Are Getting Better in october with Milt Jackson on vibes, Wynton Kelly on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Art Blakey on drums)
and 1959 (Cannonball and Coltrane in february, that featured the Miles Davis Sextet minus Davis)
before forming his own quintet in 1958
with his younger brother, cornetist Nat,
drummer Philly Joe Jones,
bassist Sam Jones and pianist Bill Evans.
The Cannonball Adderley Quintet released
Portrait Of Cannonbal (july 1958),
In San Francisco (october 1959),
with pianist Bobby Timmons instead of Evans,
In Chicago (february 1959), by a new line-up consisting of John Coltrane (tenor sax), Wynton Kelly (piano), Jimmy Cobb (drums) and Paul Chamber (bass),
Them Dirty Blues (february and march 1960) with new pianist Barry Harris,
At The Lighthouse (october 1960) with new pianist Victor Feldman,
and
Plus (may 1961).
and
Why Am I Treated So Bad (march 1967).
After a couple of hits, Bobby Timmons' This Here (october 1959) and
Nat Adderley's Work Song (march 1960),
the additions of pianist Josef "Joe" Zawinul and saxophonist/flutist
Yusef Lateef turned it into a sextet, that debuted with
In New York (january 1962) and had two more hits,
Nat Adderley's The Jive Samba (february 1962) and
Joe Zawinul's Mercy Mercy Mercy (july 1966), besides pioneering jazz-funk
in Roebuck Staple's Why Am I Treated So Bad (july 1967).
Influenced by Charlie Parker and faithful to the blues, Adderley was a transitional player who tried to find a sense of balance in a (stylistically) turbulent age.
Adderley died in 1975.
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