"DISCOVERIES"

Recording date : Hackensack  NJ, July 14, 1955.

Some will try to make you believe a fairytale that a 26 year old high school teacher ,in NY to do graduate work over the summer, can earn the mantle of Charlie Parker in a single solo, obtain a prestigious gig in two days, secure a record sate in a week, become a star in a month, and remain a legend forever. This is the storybook tale of Julian Cannonball Adderley, and overnight sensation and a lasting success and here it's by his brother Nat:

"Great night ! We'd just came into town because my brother was going to do some work at NY University. He was gonna work on his masters. And we went down, the first night, to Cafe Bohemia ..... Oscar Pettiford was playing. I think Jerome Richardson was the saxophone player and he had a record date, so Oscar Pettiford asked Charlie Rouse if he would like to play with them. Rouse said he didn't have a horn and Pettiford said :" There's a dude over with an alto. Go borrow his horn ." Rouse came over to Cannonball and he recognized him for a session they did in Florida. He said :" Hey, what are you doin' in town ? ". Cannonball said :" I'm going to school" . Rouse :" Do you want to sit in ?" and Cannonball said :" Sure ! " . Rouse went back and told Oscar Pettiford :" This dude doesn't want to let me use his horn. He said he wants to play himself. Well, he called him up to get rid of him and Cannonball sailed throughout the first couple of tunes and then I went up and played and two nights later, we had a job with that thing. Sounds like some movie stuff but that's they way it really was."

For the record, that special night was Sunday June 19, 1955. Cannonball began work at the Cafe Bohemia on Tuesday June 21,1955 . He made his first recording with his new associates on Tuesday June 28,1955 on Savoy (not 6/26/55 which has been listed. ) For that same label, Cannonball Adderley cut his first LP as a leader on Thursday July 14,1955. It is the historic sessions, that treaded a larger audience to the sensation of his performance debut.

This is the way the jazz world met Cannonball Adderley . If you're digging him for the first time, then you're recreating that initial reaction of the 1955 jazz community .

If you're already familiar with the originally issued material (Savoy : MG 12017, MG 12018 , SJC 401 , SJL 2206 ) Then this package holds the larger treat of alternates takes , all never before released ! This allows the true study of the master players : a listening to their improvisations performed on the same thematic-harmonic material just minutes apart.

With the uncovering of these unlisted entries from his first session and his first as a leader we find Cannonball Adderley to be in the front line of " from scratch" improvisators . Too many of jazz's major players (Armstrong , Beiderbecke ,Coltrane , Gillespie ,Powell and Rollins come quickly to mind ) are undocumented in this fashion .

PHIL SCHAAP

Nat Adderley quote: 10/12/84 interview with Phil Schaap