COMPOSERS: Cannonball Adderley
LABELS: Proper Box
PERFORMER: Cannonball Adderley (sax), various including Nat Adderley (cornet), Miles Davis (trumpet), Bill Evans (piano), Art Blakey (drums)
CATALOGUE NO: Properbox 157
Julian Adderley got his nickname at school because of his prodigious appetite: it was said he could eat a cannonball. Bu the tag stayed with him on account of his incendiary ability on the alto sax. As ths handsone 57-track pack reveals, the energy, momentum and lyrical impact of an Adderley solo was akin to a controlled explosion.
Covering Adderley at the height of his blues-fuelled powers, from 1955 to 1959, the straightahead setlist has the altoist bossing his sideman and fellow soloists at a dazzling bars-per-minute tempo. Nat Adderely is the constant in the quintet line-up, his infinitely inventive cornet choruses a match for brother Cannonball's breathtaking lines. It's not about ordinanace though, and the big man's beautifully decorated ballad playing shows a soulful, sensitive side that's irrestistible. The must-have pack comes with detailed liner notes on the man and his music. Garry Booth