Cannonball Adderley Swingin' In Seattle

Cannonball Adderley
Swingin' In Seattle, Live At The Penthouse 1966-67
Reel to Real Recordings

This is one of two initial recordings on Real To Real which was launched in early 2017 by jazz impresario (and musician) Cory Weeds and renowned producer Zev Feldman. The label will be focused on important archival jazz releases. Feldman may be known as co-president of Resonance Records, and these releases may be ones that Resonance has passed on. If so, it was not because of the quality of the performances.

The music here comes from radio broadcasts over four nights at the Seattle club where Cannonball and his alto sax lead a quartet with brother and cornetist Nat Adderley, pianist Joe Zawinul, bassist Victor Gaskin and drummer Roy McCurdy, the same band heard on the classic Capitol album, "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at 'The Club.'" It includes some radio intros from Seattle radio DJ and the original engineer of the Penthouse, Jim Wilke, along with Cannonball's spoken comments and some exceptional music.

It is a fabulous CD of music by this terrific band starting with the explosive opening tune, Jimmy Heath's "Big 'P,'" taken at a breakneck tempo with scorching solos from the brothers. What is refreshing is that the songs selected here are not the familiar Adderley classics like "Work Song," "Mercy Mercy, Mercy!," "Jive Samba," "This Here," or "Unity 7." Instead, there is a marvelous swinging performance of "The Girl Next Door," with spirited muted cornet, earthy alto sax and rhapsodic piano that transforms this into a relaxed waltz. "Sticks" and "Hippodelphia," were both on "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!" but heard here in lengthy, fiery gutsy performances.

Among the earliest to embrace bossa nova, Cannonball's rendition of "The Morning Of The Carnival (Manhã de Carnaval)" by Luiz Bonfá and Antônio Maria is an energetic one in contrast to Stan Getz's lighter attack. Other pleasures heard include the somewhat understated interpretation of Leonard Bernstein's "Somewhere," Zawinul's mesmerizing "74 Miles Away," and the dazzling bebop of Charlie Parker's "Back Home Blues," on which brother Nat sits out.

While the chief attraction is the music, this comes with a booklet with rare photos by Lee Tanner, Tom Copi, and others. Music journalist Bill Kopp contributes an essay placing Cannonball's music in historical context, including discussing the songs included. An interview with Jim Wilke by Seattle-based saxophonist and jazz writer Steve Griggs delves into what the scene was like at the Penthouse in the 1960s and Cannonball's relationship to the club over the years. There are also interviews with Cannonball's widow and head of the Julian Adderley estate, Olga Adderley Chandler, and acclaimed saxophonist Vincent Herring. It is an excellent booklet to go with the superb music on a fabulous release.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the January-February 2019 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 382). Here is a video of this same band playing in Europe a couple years later.