Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else (1978 Japanese Blue Note Stereo Vinyl LP)

Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else | Vinyl LP - 1978 Japanese Blue Note Stereo Reissue (GXK 8042, King Record Co., SJ seal obi)

Somethin' Else is filed under Cannonball Adderley's name, but everyone hears whose record it really is. In March 1958 Adderley, then playing in Miles Davis's band, brought a group into Van Gelder's studio for Blue Note, and Miles came along, which he almost never did for another label. The trumpet is all over the album, shaping the mood, and the opening "Autumn Leaves" is one of the most famous performances in jazz: Miles's muted horn stating the melody over a hushed, Spanish-tinged vamp before Cannonball's warm, singing alto takes flight. "Love For Sale" swings hard, the bluesy title track is a Miles original, and "One For The Daddy-O", written by Cannonball's brother Nat, ends on the record's most quoted moment, Miles asking Alfred Lion, "Is that what you wanted, Alfred?". Hank Jones is elegant at the piano and Art Blakey drives the date with his usual fire. Two of the greatest horn players of the century, relaxed and at the top of their game.

The album belongs to a charmed moment. Within a year Adderley and Miles would both play on Kind of Blue, and Cannonball would leave to lead his own famously successful bands. Somethin' Else catches him just before that, still a sideman turned leader, matched with the one trumpeter who could raise the stakes. It has never stopped being a favourite, equally at home with newcomers and lifelong collectors.

This copy is the 1978 Japanese stereo reissue on Blue Note, manufactured by King Record Co., catalogue number GXK 8042, carrying the Swing Journal seal of approval.