| Cannonball Adderley needs more attention not only for his wonderful spirit and music but also for his bands explorations that fueled the future of jazz. I am on the search for the later electric Cannonball stuff but it's kinda hard to find. My understanding is that there were some artistic and business conflicts between Cannonball, producer David Axelrod and the record label Capitol and they buried some of the really cool stuff. With the recent trend in the business to absorb record labels by ever bigger companies we may never hear many of those recordings.
2 CDs you might want check out are "Cannonball Plays Zawinul" and "Phenix".
"Cannonball Plays Zawinul" is a compilation put together by Zawinul of his favorirte tunes and performances of his own compositions. The cut "74 Miles Away" alone is almost worth the price, 7/4 modal groove from hell recorded in 1967 it's way ahead of anything else of the 'fusion' era that Miles supposedly started 2 years later in '69. The most electric version has George Duke on 'Dr Honoris Causa' recorded after Joe left the band for Weather Report. There are four fine bassists on this compilation Victor Gaskin, Richard Davis, Sam Jones & Walter Booker.
"Phenix" is a mildly electric reworking of Cannonball classics with George Duke also Sam Jones and Walter Booker on bass. "Phenix" was the last recording from Cannonball as he died shortly after these sessions.
Last edited by bassbrad : 12-20-2006 at 05:11 PM.
| 
