Julian Calendar

I'm down with an injured leg -- long story short, I fell through the floor in my kitchen -- but I'm also down to deliver an 88th birthday tribute to another one of the heroes.

Today's birthday guy needs little introduction, especially if you're of a certain vintage or you remember music before it was all scantily clad hoes shaking their assets at the camera whilst the pushbutton, Autotuned Tracks Reeking Of Profitably Homogenized Yawn (ATROPHY) bopped along like ten million Target ads in the background.

He began in the 1940s with Ray Charles, when The Genius lived in his hometown of Tallahassee, Florida, and was a legendary component of the Miles Davis Quintet that made Kind of Blue, widely considered the greatest record in the history of Jazz. He introduced George Duke and Josef Zawinul to the world they would conquer. He had hits on the pop charts with actual Jazz music. His own records hold a special place and are never that far from my Play button.

Yes, today is the birthday of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, gone 40+ years now but never forgotten.... certainly not by me. A man with an appetite so voracious -- his nickname was a bastardization of "cannibal" -- and a personality so inclusive and gregarious, you almost couldn't have drawn up a better advocate for Jazz music in the laboratory.

I think of how many of his albums rank among my most treasured in the pantheon: Accent On Africa, Inside Straight, the Soul Zodiac series, and of course the burning Black Messiah, recorded live at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.

He only lived to be 46, and died of a sudden brain aneurysm in 1975, but I am typing this now so he must have made a lasting impression while he was around, eh? Teacher, Blues-rooted alto legend, and like I said one of the all time ambassadors for the music around the world when he was alive.

To mark this occasion, I have got a stellar, rare-as-hen's-teeth 25 minutes of pristine video from the vaults, recently rebroadcast via webstream on Norwegian TV's internet channel. This was recorded in the Spring of 1969 and features footage of Cannon's unbelievable quintet with his brother Nat, plus the aforementioned Weather Reporter Joe Zawinul manning the keys.

Cannonball Adderley Quintet
Njårdhallen Sports Arena
Vestre Aker
Oslo, Norway
3.18.1969

01 Experience In E (section)

02 The Morning of the Carnival (from Black Orpheus)

03 Work Song

04 Walk Tall (J. Zawinul) [cuts at end]

Total time: 23:07

Cannonball Adderley - alto saxophone
Joe Zawinul - piano, electric piano
Nat Adderley - trumpet, cornet
Victor Gaskin - bass
Roy McCurdy - drums

flv file of a recent NRK webstream rebroadcast

400 MB FLV/September 2016 archive link

I shall return next week, after this heals, with a whole string of birthday mayhem for your eyes, ears and minds. But for now I command thee to Walk Tall -- do it for me, cuz I sure can't -- and pull down this masterful clip, showcasing one of the greatest Sixties jazz groups in full flight. And of course we will never forget Cannonball Adderley, born this day in 1928 and still saxing up our speakers four decades removed from Earth.--J.

9.15.1928 - 8.8.1975