Record Reviews
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  | CANNONBALL ADDERLEY ~ BURNIN` IN BORDEAUX: LIVE IN FRANCE 1969
ELEMENTAL MUSIC 5990448 (Barcode: 8435395504130) ~ USA ~ Jazz
Recorded: 1969 Released: 2024
This is an archival live album by American Jazz saxophonist Cannonball AdderleyFind albums by this artist, recorded with his quintet, which also includes his brother, trumpeter Nat AdderleyFind albums by this artist, Austrian pianist Joe ZawinulFind albums by this artist, bassist Victor GaskinFind albums by this artist and drummer Roy McCurdyFind albums by this artist. The 2CD album presents twelve tracks, a mixture of standards and original material, mostly composed by Zawinul. As usual with the Elemental MusicFind albums on this label releases, the album is accompanied by a booklet with interviews, photographs and essays with historical background about the music. The sound quality of the live recordings is certainly good enough to enjoy the music.
The album offers a splendid occasion to hear Adderley with Zawinul, shortly before he left to found Weather ReportFind albums by this artist, after spending most of the decade in Cannonball Adderley’s and Nat Adderley’s groups, recording numerous albums with both of them and composing a huge part of their material.
The quintet performs with passion and complete control of their faculties, as appropriate for such professionals. By the time this music was recorded, the material was getting somewhat out of sync with the dramatic developments on the Jazz scene, with Free Jazz and Jazz-Rock Fusion rapidly taking over the somewhat rusty Bebop and Hard Bop stylistics, but nevertheless the Adderley Brothers were still a force not to be taken lightly, and certainly able to provide the listeners with exciting and worthwhile musical experience.
Overall, this is an exciting time capsule, presenting mainstream American Jazz at the very end of the 1960s, just before the scene would enter a succession of dramatic changes, in which only a minority of the musicians will take part willingly and enthusiastically, and the rest would try to carry on the music further on the same path.
| | Updated: 26/05/2025Posted: 26/05/2025 | CD 2 Digipak Remastered Recommend To A Friend |
  | CANNONBALL ADDERLEY ~ POPPIN` IN PARIS: LIVE AT L`OLYMPIA 1972
ELEMENTAL MUSIC 5990449 (Barcode: 8435395504147) ~ USA ~ Jazz
Recorded: 1972 Released: 2024
This is an archival live album by the great American saxophonist / composer / bandleader Cannonball AdderleyFind albums by this artist, recorded with his quintet, which also included his brother, trumpeter Nat AdderleyFind albums by this artist, keyboardist George DukeFind albums by this artist, bassist Walter BookerFind albums by this artist and drummer Roy McCurdyFind albums by this artist. The album presents nine tracks, recorded during two sets on October 25, 1972, at the legendary L`Olympia concert hall, performed as part of the Paris Jazz Festival. Most of the music was composed by Joe ZawinulFind albums by this artist, the former keyboardist of the quintet, one tune is by Duke, another one by Nat Adderley and one is a standard. The album features, as usual, an extended booklet with interviews, articles by Jazz journalists, superb historic photographs and other background information.
The album presents the music Cannonball Adderley recorded with his last quintet, in the last four years of his life (1972 to 1975 - he died suddenly in August of 1975), which was documented on the albums released by the FantasyFind albums on this label label, with George Duke as the central figure of the quintet, who pushed the music into much more modern stylistic / post Bebop direction, adding elements of electric Funk and Groove. Duke was the most impressive instrumentalist in the quintet, which is plainly audible on this album as well. He gets most of the solo spots, which are all marvelous. Moving between the Adderley and Frank ZappaFind albums by this artist groups, Duke was simply one of the most vital American Jazz musicians in the 1970s.
Overall, this is a wonderful addition to the Cannonball Adderley recorded legacy. For the many of his followers it is of course a must, and although it does not reveal anything previously not captured on record, it is certainly a superb piece of Jazz history.
| | Updated: 09/01/2025Posted: 09/01/2025 | CD 1 Digipak Remastered Recommend To A Friend |
  | WOLFGANG DAUNER ~ RISCHKAS SOUL
LONG HAIR 149 (Barcode: 4035177001495) ~ GERMANY ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion
Recorded: 1969 Released: 2015
This is a reissue / remaster of an early album by German keyboardist / composer / bandleader and one of the Godfathers of modern German and European Jazz, Wolfgang DaunerFind albums by this artist. Recorded in a quintet setting, and probably the first European group to feature a double drums lineup, it included also guitarist Sigi SchwabFind albums by this artist, bassist Eberhard WeberFind albums by this artist, American (resident in Germany) drummer Fred BracefulFind albums by this artist and German drummer Roland WittichFind albums by this artist. The album presents six tracks, four of which are original compositions by Dauner, one is by Schwab, and finally one is a standard by Nat AdderleyFind albums by this artist. The album is accompanied by a bi-lingual (German / English) booklet with extensive background about the musicians and historical background.
The music, as expected, is absolutely brilliant, with a strong Fusiony tinge and Psychedelia, all this in addition to the Jazz sources. Although it lasts for just about half an hour, it offers a wonderful glimpse at the German scene at the time, which was developing with an astonishing speed and variety, expanding the American Jazz tradition into previously unvisited areas. It features the leader playing organ, electric piano and flute (an instrument he will rarely play on later recordings), and Weber playing electric bass guitar, which he also used very rarely in later days. Schwab plays some amazing guitar licks, which put his in the same league as other early Fusion guitarists, like German Volker KriegelFind albums by this artist, or American Larry CoryellFind albums by this artist, who would record with Dauner later on. The double drums offer a dense, complex rhythmic support, which creates a unique ambience.
Overall, this is a brilliant gem, which captures early European Fusion at its formative days, which is mostly completely unknown to contemporary listeners, but is truly worth its weight in gold. For Fusion enthusiasts, this is an absolute must, which shows the impetus of early days of the genre, and the contrast to its pitiful contemporary condition.
| | Updated: 17/05/2025Posted: 17/05/2025 | CD 1 Remastered Recommend To A Friend |
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