Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil
April 27, 2024
CANNONBALL ADDERLEY – “BURNIN’ IN BORDEAUX: LIVE IN FRANCE 1969” – Elemental Records
Julian Cannonball Adderley, alto saxophone; Nat Adderley, cornet; Joe Zawinul, piano/electric piano; Victor Gaskin, bass; Roy McCurdy, drums.
Ever since I first heard the soothing and sexy horn of Cannonball Adderley on Nancy Wilson’s debut album project with Cannonball’s group, I’ve been a fan! I was quite excited to receive this previously unreleased recording from Elemental Records featuring Cannonball’s brother Nat Adderley, the iconic Joe Zawinul on grand piano & electric piano, the amazing Victor Gaskin on bass, and the great Roy McCurdy on drums. This awesome album was recorded in two places. One was ‘live’ at the Bordeaux Jazz Festival and the other concert was at the Paris Jazz Festival. It’s a two-CD set of extraordinary music transferred from the original, 1969 tape reels. What a treasure!
Clearly, Julian Cannonball Adderley was a virtuoso alto saxophone player. At this time in his life, (the late 1960s and the early 1970s) jazz was changing. Charlie Parker had died, leaving the door wide open for saxophone players to stream through. Cannonball had a recognizable, big, round sound solidified by a soulful, bluesy essence to his playing. He was a respected bandleader who worked with the crème de la crème of jazz musicians. On this recording, you will hear him talk to the audience about the music they play and love. In the early sixties he worked closely with Yusef Lateef and Charles Lloyd. He seemed to enjoy reestablishing his Cannonball Adderley Quintet with new players, but always with musicians who were at the top of their game. You will hear that exemplified on both of these CDs. On the tune, “Experience in E” he gives each group member a time to shine. Joe Zawinul is amazing on the piano. I heard him tap into the Ahmad Jamal style briefly during this exciting, up-tempo presentation, giving a comfortable nod to another genius at the piano. However, for the most part Zawinul is his own star. Cannonball’s only brass partner has always been his brother Nat. Their dad was a trumpet player. Nat Adderley followed in his father’s footsteps, as did Cannonball, and the two brothers were bandmates from childhood onward. Nat switched from trumpet to cornet and became a prolific composer. You hear Nat Adderley’s command of the vast possibilities of the cornet on this “Experience in E” arrangement. Cannonball began playing trumpet, but quickly found his love of alto saxophone and never looked back. The brothers knew how to blend gospel church music, blues, and swing into a compelling bundle of groove music. Who can ever forget Nat Adderley’s hit record for the Quintet, “Work Song.” Once their friend Oscar Brown Jr. put his ‘chain gang’ lyrics to the catchy melody, the rest became history. That song established their commercial jazz strength.
On CD #2 of this “Burnin’ in Bordeaux “concert you will meet all the talented members of Cannonball’s Quintet, as each one steps forward to shine in the spotlight of their own sparkling musical mastery. Every song, before and after on this double set, is a treasure for your ears.
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BROTHER JACK McDUFF – “AIN’T NO SUNSHINE – LIVE IN SEATTLE” – Reel to Real
Jack McDuff, Hammond B3 organ/composer; Vinnie Corrao, guitar; Ron Davis, drums; Unknown trumpeter; Lee Johnson, tenor saxophone/flute/clarinet; Dave young, tenor & soprano saxophone.
Some people may not know that Brother Jack McDuff was first a bassist, playing with Denny Zeitlin and Joe Farrell. Maybe that’s why his organ basslines are so rich and blues drenched. He began to tinkle on the piano keys in the mid-1950s and was pretty much self-taught. McDuff was competent enough on both organ and piano to get gigs, working with Willis Jackson, and then branching out on his own to cut records for Prestige as a soul-jazz organist. One album was called “Tough Duff” and another was titled, “The Honeydripper.” These releases solidly placed McDuff in a jazz organ bracket that was both funky and soulful. McDuff liked keeping the groove simple. He was often heard criticizing drummers who got too fancy on their instruments.
“You’re busier than a cat trying to cover up shit on a tin roof,” he was heard chastising one such drummer.
Award winning guitarist, George Benson said that Jack McDuff was not the easiest man to get along with. Benson worked with him as a nineteen-year-old when first starting out in the business.
“McDuff was hard on me and spoke in a very authoritarian style,” said the Grammy Award winning guitarist.
“I learned to play with confidence, to play more blues, as Jack loved the blues, and to knuckle down and boost my concentration and studies on the guitar. He threatened me nightly, regularly saying he would fire me from the band, but he never did. Jack was a good platform for me. … which led to introductions and opportunities with people like Lou Donaldson, Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine. He always had good bands that could swing and had a lot of blues in them,” Benson recalled.
George Benson toured with Jack McDuff, Red Holloway on saxophone, and Joe Dukes on drums.
McDuff was born Eugene McDuffy on September 17, 1926. His father was a preacher man from Tennessee who fled the South in search of work and a better, less racially fueled environment for his family. They settled in Chicago. McDuff would eventually settle in is adopted city of Minneapolis, Minesota where he passed away at age 74 in 2001.
“Ain’t No Sunshine” is an unissued, 1972, concert recording that showcases McDuff at his best and features Vinnie Corrao on guitar and drummer Ron Davis, who pumps the music full of spirit and groove. The title tune starts out with a catchy horn line, opening like a curtain for Jack McDuff to walk through. His organ is soaked in soul and blues. This is a two CD set that features a small booklet, elaborating on the history of McDuff from the words of musicians who worked with him and knew him well. When they slow the groove down and play songs like “I’m Getting Sentimental over You,” you will hear the softer, pretty side of McDuff’s organ featuring his wonderful saxophonists with their spontaneous solos.
This music reminds me of the Black Exploitation Movie-Era of the 1970s. It sounds like soundtracks to “The Mack” or “Uptown Saturday Night” or “Super Fly.” Many of these songs have that type of groove, with arrangements that reflect the soul music of the 70s. McDuff has added several original songs including “Blues 1 & 8” where his drummer, Ron Davis, shines brightly in the spotlight. On disc #2, McDuff has composed, “The jolly Black Giant” that swings hard and slams his organ solo in your face like a heavy-weight punch. “Middle Class Folk Song” is a slow Bossa, and another original is called “In the Morning” and has a sort of cha-cha
rhythm. They close CD #2 with a swinging rendition of “Broadway,” a song I used to enjoy hearing Dakota Staton sing. He plays his organ melody way up in the treble clef and it almost sounds like an electric piano or a vibraphone. All the while his feet pedal the beat and the bass line beneath is caught by the groove of his fingers. When joined by the rest of the rhythm section, they drive the arrangement home. Here is a recorded legacy by an organ master, discovered and shared for us to remember Jack McDuff, and the joy he brought the world.
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SHELLY MANNE – “JAZZ FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST: SHELLY MANNE & HIS MEN” – Reel to Real
Shelly Manne, drummer; Monte Budwig, bass; Russ Freeman & Hampton Hawes, piano; Herb Geller, alto saxophone; Stu Williamson & Conte Condoli, trumpet; Frank Strozier, flute/alto saxophone; Ruth Price, vocals.
It was October of 1958, at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, when five expert jazz musicians mounted the stage led by a popular West Coast drummer named Shelly Manne. A four-and-a-half inch by four-and-a-half-inch booklet accompanies this compact disc, with a photo of Shelly’s merry men (taken by the great photographer, Ray Avery). It’s packed with pertinent historic information, offering an extensive 16-page book with essays by archival producer Zev Feldman and label owner, producer and musician, Cory Weeds. It also includes interviews with musicians, radio host Jim Wilke, and others.
Although the personnel changed from time to time, the ‘swing’ didn’t move an inch. Manne made sure of that. He surrounded himself with the best of the best from the Southern California jazz scene. His drumsticks did the rest. On this recording, containing two discs, they open Disc One with “Stop, Look and Listen” letting Russ Freeman’s piano tinkle the melody just before the horn section enters. They swing harder than a Joe Louis punch. Drum master, Manne, locks in a moderate, but energetic tempo. The burst of applause at the end of this tune reflects great audience appreciation for this quintet.
But it’s their rendition of “The Vamp’s Blues” featuring a soulful solo by alto saxophonist, Herb Geller that really intoxicates me. I love their hard bop, blues groove. By the hoots and whistles from the festival crowd, I would say you can’t lose if you play the blues.
Manne was born in New York City, but only rose to prominence in the 1950s when he relocated to the Los Angeles area. He is reverently called the founding father of the “West Coast Jazz” scene and highly regarded as a versatile and inspired drummer. When Manne teamed up with Andre Previn and awesome bassist Leroy Vinegar to record the first jazz album of a Broadway score, “My Fair Lady” became one of the most successful jazz records ever produced.
For the closing tune of this set, they play “Quartet Suite in Four Movements” and take the listener on a scenic musical ride that features an impressive bass solo by Monty Budwig and with Conte Candoli stepping into the spotlight on his trumpet. Manne and Condoli were both part of the alumnus of the Kenton and Woody Herman bands. The tempos fluidly change, to keep the audience attentive and expectant. Manne rolls his drums beneath the creative arrangements and pumps the band up with his swinging drumsticks. When the drummer takes a solo, he woos the crowd with his mastery of the trap drums and his technique. Occasionally jet planes flew over the outdoor concert venue. You can hear the purr of the plane motors drifting from above. No problem! When it happens during Shelly Manne’s impressive drum solo, he simply pauses, let’s the plane zoom past and then continues without missing a beat. It’s all caught on tape.
On Disc #2, the personnel changes. Hampton Hawes takes a seat at the piano and Ruth Price adds her vocals to the mix. This disc was recorded ‘live’ at the Penthouse in Seattle, Washington in September of 1966.
Shelly Manne and His Men open the set at racecar speed, zooming off with Manne propelling the sextet ahead on “Softly as In a Morning Sunrise” using fiery drums to heat the piece up. Frank Strozier plays alto saxophone on this tune. Hampton Hawes puts down a groove on the piano and solos furiously.
One of my favorite television shows when I was a kid growing up was Peter Gunn. It was the first TV series to feature jazz as background music. Shelly Manne & his Men played at the Bamboo Bar in the series and Manne’s group is featured on the television series.
Bill Holman, who often worked with Manne, recalls Shelly’s warm demeanor.
“Shelly Manne had the complete personality. He just charmed everyone, and he had the ability and the intelligence to back it up. He was tough to work for, because his solos, he heard patterns that were very difficult for horn players to pick up. But he sure knew what he was doing, and he was a wonderful guy. I’m sure glad that I had the chance to play with him and to know him for several years,” Bill Holman writes inside the Manne booklet.
On “Dearly Beloved” jazz vocalist Ruth Price is featured. She recalls unexpectedly meeting Shelly Manne on a trip to the West Coast from NYC.
“I first met Shelly Manne within the first two weeks I was in Los Angeles. I was brought out here to record for Mode Records for Red Clyde, but the money was all from Fred Astaire and he pulled out. None of the people that Red had brought out were able to record. We actually did end up recording, but it wasn’t released until much later. I was brought out because Red heard me singing with Dizzy Gillespie in New York City.
“So, I was in town with Bobby Dorough, a friend of mine who was also brought out to record for Mode (and also didn’t have anything to do). … He took me to hear Shelly one night in a club that’s gone now. Shelly asked me to sit in and I did. He hired me. Every night after work, we would drive around looking for places. He was looking for somewhere to put his own place. It was always the little coffeehouses that were around, and one of them turned out to be what he used as the Manne-Hole. That’s how the Manne-Hole started, and how I started with Shelly,” Ruth explained how Shelly found his famous nightclub.
Drummer, Jim Keltner talked about meeting Shelly Manne and how he admired the man.
“It is a funny thing, when I would meet some of the musicians that I really admired, they would be a bit aloof. If you’re just a kid, you think, oh I’m kind of wasting their time. With Shelly, it was the opposite of that. He talked to you like he wanted to know about you. … what you were doing and all that. That was the key with Shelly Manne. Later on, as the years went by, I got into the studios and was doing stuff. It was the same thing, whenever I would see him he would ask me what I was doing. I remember a couple of times he complimented me, and it blew me away.
“Another time, I was playing one night with Gabor Szabo and on the break, Shelly came up to me and he said, Jimmy, what are you doing there with your right hand? I thought I was going to pass out! Shelly Manne was paying attention to my playing? So much so, that he asked me about something specific. I mean, the tables were turned. It just blew me away. I was so knocked out. I was able to tell him, it’s double-stroke triplets from the snare to the ‘ride.’ It’s illusory. And he loved that. I just can’t say enough about his humanity. He was not only one of the great jazz players, but he was just a great cat,” Keltner complimented one of his idols.
On Disc #2 I love the energy and speed that they attack “Secret Love” with, and Monty Budwig’s walking bass actually sounds like it’s running.
There have been a slew of recordings by Shelly Manne & his Men, but this newest release is particularly refreshing and solidifies a piece of history in the jazz archives that certainly shines a spotlight on Manne’s important contributions as both a drummer, a bandleader and a club owner who kept the legacy of jazz as the heartbeat of his life.
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SUN RA – “AT THE SHOWCASE LIVE IN CHICAGO – 1976 – 1977” – Jazz Detective
Sun Ra, piano/electronic keyboards; Dale Williams, guitar; Richard Williams, bass; Luqman Ali, drums; Eddie Thomas, percussion; James Jackson, ancient ihnfinity drum/oboe; Atakatune, congas; June Tyson, Wisteria (Judith Holton) & Cheryl Banks Smith, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone; Marshall Allen, alto saxophone/flute/kora; Danny Davis, alto saxophone/flute; Eloe Omoe, alto saxophone/bass clarinet; Danny Thompson, baritone saxophone/flute; Michael Ray, Emmett McDonald, & Ahmed Abdullah, trumpets; Vincent Chancey, French horn.
Herman Poole Blount, who jazz lovers know as ‘Sun Ra,’ was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1914. But, during the 1950s he came into existence as a musical soul called Sun Ra, in Chicago. It was in Chi-town that the pianist developed his unique performance persona and where he began composing. It was here, from the mid-1940s to 1961, that Sun Ra began experimenting and letting his musical imagination explore and create. His congregation called itself The Arkestra, and when he moved to New York, Sun Ra’s concept gelled into a fully formed unit of experimental jazz, fueled by unique arrangements and compositions. In the early 1970s, Sun Ra’s dreams crystallized into a working unit that travelled the world. They built an enthusiastic and supportive fan base in Europe.
In 1978, back in America, The Arkestra appeared on the popular Saturday Night Live televised comedy show. He landed a record deal with the ABC-Impulse record label and promoted it by travelling from Canada to Mexico, from Africa through Europe, and from Oakland, California to Ann Arbor, Michigan. They were playing all over the place.
On a visit to his adopted city, this album was recorded “Live in Chicago” at a jazz Showcase presented
at 901 Rush Street. This two-record set represents two different performance dates; one in 1976 and another in 1977. The jazz showcases were run by Joe Segal, a legendary producer in Chicago for decades. However, Joe was no big fan of experimental jazz or the Avant Garde. Still, Joe Segal, (like the Chicago community) recognized that Sun Ra was eccentric, gifted, and unpredictable. They accepted their adopted son with open arms. So did Segal. On the business side, Sun Ra and his famous Arkestra guaranteed a full-house, with a sold-out crowd. Segal sure wasn’t going to bite the hand that fed him.
The titles of Sun Ra’s compositions reflected his mind-set. Some of the songs you will hear on these discs are “View from Another Dimension” and “Moonship Journey.” The “Moonship Journey” tune opens with voices chanting the title, until saxophones splash improvisational colors all over the concert room. Cd #1 of this double CD set closes with an original composition by Sun Ra titled “Velvet.” His arrangement is neither smooth nor soft (like the velvet title) but is snatched from his 1950s Arkestra songbook and played joyfully with high energy. On CD #2, he opens with “Calling Planet Earth & the Shadow World” that sounds entirely improvised, often dissonant, and is propelled by percussion and trap drums. There is a feeling of freedom and abandonment in the arrangement, with the horns flying like startled birds. One of the saxes sounds distinctively like the whiney of a horse. The musicians play the arrangement aggressively.
Michael Anderson was a radio DJ on station WRTI in Chicago at the incredible age of 13. He reflected on how his relationship with Sun Ra developed, while he was living in the windy city.
“I had a really difficult family background, so I was living on my own since I was like eleven. Sonny (a nick name for Sun Ra) was instrumental in a lot of things. First of all, in teaching me his music. Then, he designated me his archivist in charge of recording and preserving his works. I had access to state-of-the-art equipment at the radio station, so I would do production work at WRTI and do work for Sonny or for Alton Abraham, his partner who helped Sonny get started with his own label called El Saturn Records,” Anderson shared these historical memories in the 36-page booklet included in Sun Ra’s CD package.
There are other quotes from various musicians, friends, and associates. Reedman, Marshall Allen reflected:
“… After work (around 1958) I’d go around the corner to a record store owned by Joe Segal, who also owned the Jazz Showcase. Segal had a lot of jam sessions going, and all of the great musicians in Chicago came to play. Once, joe told me, there’s a band up there rehearsing every day and they’re looking for talent. It’s led by Sun Ra.
“He gave me a demo and I listened to the stuff. I immediately wanted to get in that band. So, I went to see Sun Ra at the ballroom where he was rehearsing. I sat there with him all night talking. He asked me to come over to John Gilmore’s house, where they had a piano, in order to see what I could do. That’s how I met him. … He gave me a trial, playing (the song) “Spontaneous Simplicity.” You could say that in the late 1950s, I was still learning how to play. … That was a band to stay in. I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” Marshall Allen confided.
“Sun Ra was a genius. He had the music inside his mind and his own way of playing it, of attacking every note. He was a good teacher and wrote beautiful music. Being in his band was like a dream. Once there, I found a place to stay. He wasn’t just a musician. He was above all, an innovator who could imagine the future,” Marshall Allen concluded.
I concur!
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