Cannonball Adderley - Cannonball Adderley's Finest Hour (2001)@flac

From Liner Notes

It was not long before EmArcy dubbed Adderley “the new Bird” - something he hated - but his influence on jazz over the following decade was noticeable and positive. He had remarkable fluency at any tempo and an instantly recognizable, often chirpy sound, and his mastery of a range of emotional expression in ballads and blues alike was compelling.

Listen here to his lyrical treatment of songs like “Lover Man”, “A Foggy Day", or “Stars Fell on Alabama". Listen further to his adventuresomeness with strings on “Nothin’” and “Jump for Joy", palpably more tensile than conventional “with strings” sessions and signposting Stan Getz's future triumph with Focus (Verve CD 314 521 419-2). Listen to his fluency on up-tempo tunes, like the fateful “I’ll Remember April", “I Don’t Care”, and the marvelous “battle” with John Coltrane on “Limehouse Blues”. Above all, listen to such excellent blues performances as “Fallen Feathers” (Adderley’s paean for Bird), “T’s Tune”, and “Work Song”, or the gospel-tinged “Jubilation", and it is soon evident how he became a father of modern jazz’s “soul” movement.
During his EmArcy contract, Adderley led the little band heard on many of these tracks, but when financial problems caused it to disband he increased his reputation by joining the Miles Davis Sextet, where, from 1958 to 1959, he was an equal voice in the best modern jazz combo, of the day. He re-formed his quintet in late 1959 and went on to huge success on the wave of soulful material augured here.

Did Adderley take over Charlie Parker’s mantle? Of course not; nobody could, and in any event, he never sought to. He remained Julian Adderley, the finest alto player of his generation, a man who carried jazz to the people and is a re-emerging icon for a whole generation of present-day alto saxophonists.

Chris Sheridan, November 2000