Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band Live at Cory Weeds' Jazz Club

Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band
Live at Cory Weeds' Jazz Club
Cellar Live Records

As many know, drummer Louis Hayes was a cornerstone of the Cannonball Adderley Band for several years. In honor of the great saxophonist, he has led a Cannonball Adderly Legacy Band. This live recording from Cory Weeds' Vancouver, BC club has him joined by Dezron Douglas on bass, Rick Germanson on piano, Vincent Herring on alto sax, and Jeremy Pelt on trumpet. Cory Weeds adds tenor sax on one selection.

Not much to say, but this quintet captures the blues-drenched hard bop soul that characterized Adderley's great band. Indeed, things get off to a terrific start with "Exodus." The performances throughout are outstanding with the rendition of "Dat Here," with a superb Germanson solo being a specific highlight. Hayes and Douglas drive the hot grooves here while Herring and Pelt are characteristically exceptional. The closing notes of "Sack Of Woe" conclude a superb performance.

This recording is available as a download from Bandcamp, https://louishayes.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-cory-weeds-jazz-club.

I purchased this download. This review appeared in the March-April 2020 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 389). Here is the Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band performing at Cory Weeds' Jazz Club in 2013.

Rick Germanson Quartet Live at Smalls

Among the latest batch of recordings of Live at Smalls on the Smalls Live label is one by the Rick Germanson Quartet. Pianist Germanson was joined that night by the trumpet of Dr. Eddie Henderson, the bass of Paul Gill and the drums of Lewis Nash. Germanson, best know for his association with Louis Hayes (especially the Cannonball Legacy Band), displays the influence of McCoy Tyner among others in his energetic playing.

On this date, backed by an excellent rhythm section, and benefiting from Henderson’s bright playing (in a Freddie Hubbard vein), he leads off with a driving interpretation of Bobby Timmons’ So Tired. Henderson employs a mute for a fresh and imaginative take on Surrey With A Fringe On Top, lending more of a Miles Davis’ tone here although the performances allude to the melody and chord structure of Surrey with little direct rephrasing or embellishment of the familiar melody.

Shorter’s Waltz is a Germanson original evocative of some of Shorter’s compositions with some strong work by Gill and Nash providing the base supporting more fine playing Henderson and Germanson. Playing solo, Germanson provides a lovely impressionistic rendering of Duke Ellington’s The Single Petal of a Rose, which is followed by another appealing ballad, Say It (Over & Over Gain), with Gill and Nash adding light, understated support.

A Germanson original, Edge brings Henderson back who plays in a fiery mode on this hard bop cooker. It closes another strong live recording of straight ahead hard bop from the Greenwich Village jazz club.

I purchased this. Here is Rick performing Bebop.

Rick Germanson's solid piano not simply off the cuff

Pianist Rick Germanson may be best known as a member of drummer Louis Hayes’ Cannonball Legacy Band, and with Hayes and bassist Gerald Cannon, has a new album, Off the Cuff (Owl Studios), that is a swinging session that ranges from hard driving post bop to lyrical ballad playing.


One can hear a definite McCoy Tyner influence in some of the playing, but he tosses in his own twist in some of the compositions such as the opening Quagmire with Hayes’ employing some nice brushwork on the interesting theme. Jill’s Song, dedicated to his late sister, opens with his thoughtful solo piano before segueing into a genial waltz time with some nice playing. Daytona, another number displaying a Tyner-ish tinge, features some strong bass from Cannon.


A lovely ballad performance,Up Jumped Spring, serves as a tribute to its composer, Freddie Hubbard, with some nice brushwork from Hayes adding to Germanson’s thoughtful playing. The tempo quickens along with a hint of Latin rhythms on the Arlen/ Mercer standard, This Time The Dream’s On Me, which is followed by Burt Bacharach’s Wives and Lovers, which allows Cannon to take a nice solo.


The Way of Water, is a reflective and evocative solo followed by Autumn in New York, again with Hayes shining on brushes and Cannon exploring the low-end on his improvisation. Bill Milkowski notes, in the accompanying booklet, that Brick hints at Horace Silver’s Cooking at the Continental, and likewise is a burner, which also provides a solo showcase for Hayes.


In all, Off the Cuff is a solid showcase for pianist Germanson and is available from at Rick’s website, http://www.rickgermanson.net/disco.html, amazon, itunes, and other sources.

My review copy was provided by a publicist for the release. The review appeared originally in the August 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 319). I have changed the website on how to buy this because the link in published review no longer works.

Cannonball Legacy Band Honor's Sax Great's Legacy

The following review was written for Jazz & Blues Report in October 2006 and appeared in the January -February 2007 issue (# 290).

Its been sometime since Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderly passed away and a few since his brother Nat passed away. Louis Hayes, drummer for Adderly forty years ago has been leading a tribute band to the legendary saxophonist and the terrific band Hayes was such a part of. This writer had the pleasure to catch Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Legacy Band at the 2005 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and enjoyed their set that brought to life some of the classics the Adderly Brothers were remembered for. Savant has just issued Maximum Firepower from Hayes and the Cannonball Legacy Band that showcases there fine music. In addition to Hayes, the Legacy Band includes Vincent Herring on alto sax, Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn, and Richard Goods on bass. Anthony Wonsey and Rick Germanson hare the piano chair.

This is a nice overview of the Adderly Brothers’ repertoire although it omits a couple of the best known songs (Mercy, Mercy, Mercy and Work Song). There is a pretty varied group of writers represented here including Quincy Jones (Jessica’s Birthday), Bobby Timmons (This Here), Nat Adderly (Little Boy With the Sad Eyes), Charles Lloyd (Sweet Georgia Bright), Victor Feldman (New Delhi), Cannonball (Sack ‘o Woe), and Sam Jones (Unit 7) with one original from Jeremy Pelt (The Two of Them), and the performances are consistently focused and strong. Herring and Pelt play strong heads as well as solos (check out the beginning of This Here), and the band plays this strong hard bop set with plenty of heat and swing. Hayes himself remains a wonderful drummer near five decades later and the Rudy Van Gelder recording wonderfully captures his playing as well as the entire group. This is a marvelous set which will appeal to the same sort of gritty hard bop that the Adderly’s provided decades ago.

For FTC regulations, I received this to review from the publication this review originally appeared in.