Jazz Articles about Nat Adderley

Kelly Blue

by C. Michael Bailey
September 3, 2025

The classic Wynton Kelly Trio comprised Kelly on piano, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Besides being Kelly's most stable trio, this rhythm section provided the underpinning for several important recordings and tours for Miles Davis in the late '50s and early '60s. These include Kind of Blue (Columbia Records, 1959) and Davis' 1960 European Tours, Someday My Prince Will Come (Columbia Records, 1961), In Person, Vol. 1--Friday Night at the Blackhawk (Columbia Records, 1961), In Person, Vol. 2--Saturday ...

Cannonball Adderley: Burnin' In Bordeaux: Live In France 1969

by Stefano Merighi
April 10, 2025

Altra nuova perla della Elemental Music, e sempre con la produzione di Zev Feldman, “Burnin' in Bordeaux" (doppio CD) celebra il magistero di Julian Cannonball Adderley, un poeta assoluto del sax contralto, e la solidità nonché la brillantezza del suo quintetto di fine anni '60. Adderley, scomparso a soli 46 anni nel 1975, è stato fedele alla sua idea di jazz anche in un periodo in cui le trasformazioni si succedevano in fretta e in cui il grande ...

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

by Mike Jurkovic
April 26, 2024

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 ...

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

by Mike Jurkovic
April 20, 2024

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 ...

Nat Adderley: A Player's Player

by Joan Gannij
August 29, 2014

This interview was originally conducted in 1997. I met Nat Adderley in San Diego, California in 1986 when I was working as a disc jockey at a jazz radio station and doing the PR for La Jolla Playhouse. We did an interview about a new production of a musical being revived at the progressive La Jolla Playhouse and premiered on Broadway later that year. “Shout Up a Morning," based on the folk hero John Henry, began as a ...

Nat Adderley: Naturally

by Derek Taylor
March 20, 2003

Fraternal partnerships are a frequent source of creative jazz inspiration. Reference the accomplishments of Montgomery brothers (Wes, Monk and Buddy) or those of the Jones clan (Elvin, Thad and Hank) for easy examples. And then there's Wynton, Branford, Delfayo and Jason, lest we leave out the Marsalises. Family ties have a way of forging lasting musical artistry, but the hobgoblin of rivalry can also enter into the equation when one sibling's star outshines those of the others.

Nat ...

Benny Golson Quintet: That's Funky

by AAJ Staff
January 22, 2003

Looking back past the rule of Parliament to the age of Horace Silver, Benny Golson’s That's Funky pays tribute to Louis Armstrong through two renditions of his popular favorite “Mack the Knife." While the opening “funky version" starts off a bit sluggish and includes some pinched soloing by Nat Adderley, Monty Alexander’s firm comps make it swing and Golson’s smooth lines give it at least three pennies worth of class. On the “modern bebop version," Adderley’s lines are much more ...