On this 6th day in June, which will for sure be a great day, jazz is always a good fallback. I’ve been to San Francisco only once before and though brief, it was more than enough for me to grasp just how breathtaking it is. The city is a huge area that encompasses city life and huge bodies of water. I remember walking out of their Amoeba location and seeing the mist from the ocean come over us as we walked to grab a slice of pizza from a local shop. For this live recording, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley enlisted his quintet to play at San Francisco’s “The Jazz Workshop” to record over two days, to standing room-only crowds, in October of 1959 and everything is spectacular.The five songs on here are all felt with Adderley’s rhythmic soloing (you could transpose it and notice all of his accents and think it was the drummer’s part) and his brother’s, Nat Adderley, exceptional trumpet playing. Much more subdued than that of his bigger bro’s, it’s still melodic and soothing the way his cornet comes to life. One of the highlights is a Randy Weston tune, “Hi-Fly,” in 4/4 meter; this was a breakthrough since Weston was primarily known for his waltzes: check out the solos by the two brothers on this one.
But this album sparked what was called the movement of “soul jazz” where everything was pouring straight from the heart. Cannonball makes note of it on opening song, “This Here,” (written by his pianist Bobby Timmons) and it’s prefaced with a small insert before the song that reads A Few Words by Cannonball…and “This Here.” Even at just five songs, it was a monumental album in many regards and continues to hold high prestige even 50 years later. Here is that opener in all its wonderment. – Bryan
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