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Cannonball Adderley

Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop.

Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own band while studying music at the U.S. Naval Academy and then led an army band while stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Originally nicknamed "Cannibal" in high school for his voracious appetite, the nickname mutated into "Cannonball" and stuck.

In 1955, Adderley traveled to New York City with his younger brother and lifelong musical partner, Nat Jr. (cornet). The elder Adderley sat in on a club date with bassist Oscar Pettiford and created such a furvor that he was signed almost immediately to a recording contract and was often (if not entirely accurately) called "the new Bird."

Adderley's direct style on alto was indebted to the biting clarity of Charlie Parker, but it also significantly drew from the warm, rounded tones of Benny Carter; hard swingers such as Louis Jordan and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson were important influences as well. Adderly became a seminal influence on the hard-driving style known as hard-bop, and could swing ferociously at faster tempos, yet he was also an effective and soulful ballad stylist.

From 1956-57, Adderley led his own band featuring Nat, pianist Junior Mance and bassist Sam Jones. The group broke up when he was invited to join the Miles Davis Quintet in 1957. Davis expanded his group to a Sextet soon thereafter by hiring saxophonist John Coltrane. "I felt that Cannonball's blues-rooted alto sax up against Trane's harmonic, chordal way of playing, his more free-form approach, would create a new kind of feeling," Davis explained in his autobiography.

From 1957-59, Adderley recorded some of his best work on the landmark Davis albums Milestones and Kind of Blue within this sextet. Davis reciprocated with a guest appearance on Adderly's 1958 solo album Somethin' Else, which also included bassist Jones, pianist Hank Jones, and drummer Art Blakey.

Adderley left the Davis band to reform his quintet in 1959, this time with his brother, Sam Jones, pianist Bobby Timmons and drummer Louis Hayes. Yusef Lateef made it a sextet around 1962; pianist Joe Zawinul replaced Timmons around 1963. Other band alumni include Charles Lloyd, and pianists Barry Harris, Victor Feldman and George Duke.

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Radio & Podcasts

Cannonball Adderley: Assessing Airshots

Read "Cannonball Adderley: Assessing Airshots" reviewed by Patrick Burnette


The Record Store Day madness continues as the boys take two Cannonball Adderley air-shots from France for a spin. Whether he's Poppin in Paris or Burning in Bordeaux, the listener can hear Adderley's group transitioning from the sixties to the seventies, even if things get bumpy from time to time. To put the great alto saxophonist's creativity into context, two of his more surprising releases on Capitol Records also get a look in. Once you've heard the man's stone classics, ...

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Radio & Podcasts

The (Record Store) Day After - Part 1

Read "The (Record Store) Day After - Part 1" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


This is a special edition of Mondo Jazz focusing on soon-to-be collector's items which were released on the occasion of the first Record Store Day of 2024. Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Cannonball Adderley “Walk Tall" Poppin' in Paris: Live at L'Olympia 1972 (Elemental) 0:16 Host talks 4:30 Cannonball Adderley “Why Am I Treated So Bad?" Burnin' in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969 (Elemental) 6:18 ...

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Album Review

Cannonball Adderley: Poppin In Paris: Live At L'Olympia 1972

Read "Poppin In Paris: Live At L'Olympia 1972" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


In his most natural setting--onstage alongside brother Nat Adderley--and accompanied by pianist George Duke, bassist Walter Booker and the trusty Roy McCurdy on drums, Cannonball Adderley pops and bops to all heart's content on Poppin' In Paris: Live at the Olympia 1972 . Appearing as part of the Paris Jazz Festival, the band holds true to its unspoken credo--defy expectations--and steams straight ahead into Duke's epic rent party stomp “Black Messiah." It is a colorful jazz-rock fireworks display ...

10
Album Review

Cannonball Adderly: Burnin’ in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969

Read "Burnin’ in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Intent on burning down the house, Burnin' in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969 finds Cannonball Adderley gleefully passing out the matches. Captured very, very, very live at the Bordeaux Jazz Festival in March 1969, Adderley and his fired up co-arsonists--pianist Joe Zawinul, cornetist Nat Adderley, Jr., bassist Victor Gaskin, and drummer Roy McCurdy--go scorched earth from the flare-up with Zawinul's spiky ember, the uber-toned “The Scavenger." It rips, it roars. It runs wild the rapids and holds strong the ramparts. It ...

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Liner Notes

Raul De Souza: Colors

Read "Raul De Souza: Colors" reviewed by Arnaldo DeSouteiro


Raul De Souza's life can be seen as a one-of-a-kind story. Indeed, it would make a perfect novel or film script. It may not be as big a tragedy as 'Round Midnight or Bird, but it has drama, love, adventure, and great music. Picture this: a poor child grows up in Brazil working as a weaver and practicing trombone in conversations with a buffalo in the jungle, dreaming of someday becoming an internationally famous jazzman. Suddenly, this dream ...

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Radio & Podcasts

The Alto After Bird - Pepper, Woods, McLean, Adderley (1957 - 1960)

Read "The Alto After Bird  - Pepper, Woods, McLean, Adderley (1957 - 1960)" reviewed by Russell Perry


When Charlie Parker died at 34 in 1955, it was as if an ancient tree fell in the forest with the resulting sunlight promoting the growth of numerous alto saxophone progeny. Art Pepper appeared in Stan Kenton's Orchestra in 1950 and by 1953 was recording as a leader while still collaborating with West Coast colleagues like Shorty Rogers and Chet Baker. In 1957, his LP Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section signaled the maturity of a singular improviser from the ...

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Interview

Cannonball: A Man of the People

Read "Cannonball: A Man of the People" reviewed by Rob Rosenblum


This interview was conducted at Union College in Schenectady, New York in 1971 and was originally published in an arts newspaper called Transition. Julian Cannonball Adderley was only three when he began to dig jazz and his hunger for his music is yet to be satiated. The first music he remembers hearing was in church. His mother was the organist of an Episcopal church. This church background has had a profound effect on his playing. His father played ...

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Recording

Adderley's 'Presenting Cannonball,' 1955

Adderley's 'Presenting Cannonball,' 1955

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In the mid-1950s, drummer Kenny Clarke was the house drummer for Savoy Records. Aware that Clarke was plugged in to networks of musicians, Ozzie Cadena, the label's A&R chief, paid him extra to assemble interesting combinations of talent for recording sessions. As a reader pointed out a few days ago, the Kenny Burrell and Pepper Adams session I posted about was one of those set up by Clarke. Today I'm continuing with records for Savoy that Clarke not only played ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley

Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Cannonball Adderley's birthday today!

Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin “Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own band ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley

Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Cannonball Adderley's birthday today!

Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin “Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own band ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley

Jazz Musician of the Day: Cannonball Adderley

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Cannonball Adderley's birthday today!

Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin “Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own band ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian “Cannonball" Adderley's birthday today!

Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin “Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own ...

Video / DVD

Cannonball Adderley: EmArcy #1

Cannonball Adderley: EmArcy #1

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Born in Tampa, Fla., and raised in Tallahassee, alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley studied music at Florida A&M before becoming the band director at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. In 1955, Adderley moved to New York to explore studying at graduate-level music schools. He was joined by his brother, trumpeter and cornetist Nat Adderley, who had been on tour with Lionel Hampton. As the story goes, the Adderley brothers brought their instruments to the Café Bohemia at 15 Barrow Street ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian “Cannonball" Adderley's birthday today!

Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin “Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian “Cannonball" Adderley's birthday today!

Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin “Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian “Cannonball" Adderley's birthday today!

Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin “Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian “Cannonball" Adderley's birthday today! Both as the leader of his own bands as well as an alto and soprano saxophone stylist, Julian Edwin “Cannonball" Adderley was one of the progenitors of the swinging, rhythmically robust style of music that became known as hard-bop. Born September 15, 1928, into a musical family in Florida, Adderley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He became leader of the 36th Army Dance Band, led his own ...

Christopher Burnett
saxophone, alto
Dom Minasi
guitar
Ken Stout
saxophone
Noah Peterson
saxophone
Keith Pray
saxophone
Anna Brooks
saxophone
Lynda Murray
saxophone, alto
Frank Macchia
composer / conductor
Albert Rivera
saxophone, tenor
Doug Munro
guitar
Ed Palermo
saxophone
Alan Gaumer
trumpet
Doc Stewart
saxophone, alto
Fred Haas
saxophone
Sharel Cassity
saxophone
Ofer Shapira
saxophone
Alon Farber
saxophone
Chris Gale
saxophone, tenor
Lynn Ligammari
saxophone
Hakan Brostrom
saxophone
Richard Howell
saxophone
Amy Shook
bass, acoustic
Tony Exum, Jr
saxophone
Laurent Doumont
saxophone
Brent Bowman
saxophone, alto
Frido ter Beek
saxophone
Damani Phillips
saxophone
Al Falaschi
saxophone
F. ter Beek
saxophone
Andy Page
saxophone
Melanie Howell-Brooks
saxophone, baritone
Chris Engel
saxophone, alto
The Ed Palermo Big Band
band / ensemble / orchestra
Aldo Salvent
saxophone, tenor
Alex Hahn
saxophone, alto
Benjamin Deschamps
saxophone, alto
Allison Au
saxophone, alto
Joan Hutton
saxophone
Jason Kush
saxophone
Zac Zinger
saxophone, tenor
Karolis Šarkus
saxophone, alto
Philippe Vieux
composer / conductor
Ally Fiola
saxophone
Adam Claussen
saxophone
Pureum Jin
saxophone, alto
The Rookies
arranger
Bill Hauser
saxophone, tenor
Glen Manby
saxophone, alto
Alex Clarke
saxophone
Patricia López
saxophone
David Bode
saxophone
Ian Charleton
composer / conductor
Dave Coules
saxophone
Mike Flanagan
saxophone, alto
Andres Hayes
saxophone, tenor
Alex León Reyes
saxophone, alto
Kyle James
saxophone, alto
Erich Fischer
vibraphone
Steve Britt
saxophone
Dave Salvator
saxophone
Logan Conkright
saxophone
Orlando Madrid
saxophone, alto
Kasper Rietkerk
saxophone, alto
Chris Powe
saxophone
Cody McCafferty
saxophone, tenor

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Burnin’ in...

Elemental Music
2024

buy

Live in Montreal May...

Liberation Hall
2024

buy

Poppin In Paris: Live...

Elemental Music
2024

buy

Waltz For Debby

American Jazz Classics
2019

buy

The Legendary Quartet...

American Jazz Classics
2014

buy

Videos

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