Jazz Icons: Live in 1963

Jazz Icons: Cannonball Adderley boasts two beautifully filmed concerts from one of the most celebrated sextets in jazz history, captured at the top of their game. Cannonball Adderley (alto sax), Nat Adderley (cornet) and the masterful Yusef Lateef (tenor sax, flute, oboe), provide a massive three-horn frontline attack, while the stellar rhythm section featuring a pre-Weather Report Joe Zawinul (piano), Sam Jones (bass) and Louis Hayes (drums) fuel the songs with a deep infectious swing. Quincy Jones’ “Jessica’s Day” leaps from the gate with a huge “big band” sound that is extraordinary for only six musicians. This DVD is a reminder that Cannonball Adderley was one of the most outstanding and highly respected alto saxophonists in the history of jazz, a blues-based jazzman who could play anything in superb fashion.

Features:
24-page booklet
Liner Notes by John Szwed
Foreword by Olga Adderley-Chandler
Afterword by Ira Gitler
Cover photo by Giles Petard Collection/Redferns
Booklet photos by Lee Tanner, Francis Wolff, Gianni Cardani, Rolf Ambor, Popsie, Lennart Steen, Val Wilmer
Memorabilia collage
Total time: 100 minutes

Sample Liner Notes by John Szwed:
The mythology of jazz tells us that some of the greatest musicians first appear in New York (or Los Angeles or Chicago) seemingly from out of nowhere, or at least from someplace that city folks would never dream had jazz musicians. These jazz gods are often said to be naturals who arrive fully prepared to assume their roles in spite of no real musical training. Thus it is said that Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Ornette Coleman and Charlie Parker came with a destiny of greatness already bestowed upon them. And so it might have seemed for saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley when he turned up in New York with his trumpet playing brother, Nat, in the summer of 1955.

Yet, the Adderleys were hardly musical naïfs. Cannonball was on vacation from his job as band director at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a city then known more for its naval base than as a seasonal playground for college students, and Nat had the summer off from studying at Florida A&M University. The brothers were raised in Tampa and Tallahassee, and both had spent some time in bands in the military. Cannonball went to college to become a music educator, and Nat joined Lionel Hampton’s band before returning to finish college. But since most of their playing experience had been in local clubs in Fort Lauderdale and occasionally in Miami, as far as New Yorkers were concerned, they still came from nowhere.

Live in Germany 1963:
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (Alto Sax)
Nat Adderley (Cornet)
Yusef Lateef (Tenor Sax, Flute, Oboe)
Joe Zawinul (Piano)
Sam Jones (Bass)
Louis Hayes (Drums)