Jazz
Cut in 1958 for the Blue Note Lable, Somethin' Else is one of the all time great jazz albums. The personnel features Cannonball on alto, Miles Davis on Trumpet, Hank Jones on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and the great Art Blakey on drums. It may say Cannonball Adderly on the album cover, and have Miles Davis listed as a sideman, but this has the feel of a Miles Davis album all the way. The selection of material and the musician's laid back approach, tempered by the contrast of Mile's simmering mute with an expressive firey second horn, here the exuberant Adderley, are trademarks from this era of Davis' career. Regardless of who led the session, it is one any fan of jazz simply must have. It is one of those rare albums that is immediately accessable, and you can tell you will be listening to repeatedly from the first note. Every track's performance is a highlight, but Cannonball's playing is particularly inspired, especially his soulful blues soaked soloing on Dancing in the dark, and boppish flight on One For Daddy-O. Miles is dramatic, soulful, vulnerable, and sultry all at once. His muted playing on the first two tracks is simply sumptuous, with his open horn solo on One For Daddy-O and his "call and response" exchange with Adderley at the end of the title track being truly inspired. Hank Jones contributes a flawless hard swinging piano. Taking every note he is given and making it count, Hank makes his accompaniment as well as his solos sound as if he is playing them the only way they possibly could be. Art Blakey and the underrated Sam Jones are water tight in support, with Blakey unusually restrained throughout the album, his only solo space on the album's final track. At the end of One For Daddy-O we hear a puckish Miles ask producer Alfred Lion, "Is that what you wanted, Alfred?", and then some I'll wager. This is an album that will appeal to the jazz novice and the aficionado alike, if you do not have it, buy it, you won't be dissappointed.
By "jazzfan".
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When alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, a high school band director from Florida, passed through New York with brother Nat during a school break, he found more excitement than he was counting on. After Julian offered to sit in for a late reedman, the session's leader, bassist Oscar Pettiford confronted him with the challenging changes of "I'll Remember April," at a breakneck tempo designed to humiliate the young upstart. Instead, Adderley responded with a solo that became the talk of the town; within days, his recording career had begun, and within a year he was able to give up his teaching job to front a full-time band.
Adderley gave up his own band in 1957 when he had the opportunity to become a sideman in Miles Davis' epic ensemble with John Coltrane, resulting in some of the greatest jazz recordings of all time (including MILESTONES and KIND OF BLUE). Davis returned the favor in March of 1958, appearing as a sideman on Adderley's all-star quintet date for Blue Note, and the resulting session is indeed SOMETHIN' ELSE.
Both horn players are at their peak of lyrical invention, crafting gorgeous, flowing blues lines on the title tune and "One For Daddy-O," as the Hank Jones/Sam Jones/Art Blakey rhythm team creates a taut, focused groove (pianist Hank Jones' sly, intuitive orchestrations are studies of harmonic understatement). Adderley's lush, romantic improvisation on "Dancing In The Dark" is worthy of Charlie Parker or Johnny Hodges, while the band refurbishes "Autumn Leaves" and "Love For Sale" into personal cliche-free swingers. And "Alison's Uncle" puts a boppish coda on SOMETHIN' ELSE, one of the most gloriously laid-back blowing sessions of the hard bop era.
The track "Bangoon" is the correct title for the track "Allison's Uncle" that was originally included as a bonus on previous editions of SOMETHIN' ELSE.
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Julian "Cannonball" Adderley- (Alto Saxophone);
Miles Davis- (Trumpet);
Hank Jones- (Piano);
Sam Jones- (Bass);
Art Blakey- (Drums).
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01. Autumn Leaves 10.59
02. Love For Sale 7.06
03. Somethin' Else 8.14
04. One For Daddy-O 8.25
05. Dancing in the Dark 4.07
06. Alison's Uncle 5.04
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