Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928 – August 8, 1975) was a jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s.
Adderley is remembered for his 1966 single "Mercy Mercy Mercy", a crossover hit on the pop charts, and for his work with trumpeter Miles Davis, including on the epochal album Kind of Blue (1959). He was the brother of jazz cornetist Nat Adderley, a longtime member of his band.
Adderley is remembered for his 1966 single "Mercy Mercy Mercy", a crossover hit on the pop charts, and for his work with trumpeter Miles Davis, including on the epochal album Kind of Blue (1959). He was the brother of jazz cornetist Nat Adderley, a longtime member of his band.
Adderley joined the Miles Davis sextet in October 1957, three months prior to John Coltrane's return to the group. Adderley played on the seminal Davis records Milestones and Kind of Blue. This period also overlapped with pianist Bill Evans's time with the sextet, an association that led to recording Portrait of Cannonball and Know What I Mean?.
The Cannonball Adderley Quintet featured Cannonball on alto sax and his brother Nat Adderley on cornet. Adderley's first quintet was not very successful; however, after leaving Davis' group, he formed another, again with his brother, which enjoyed more success.
The new quintet (which later became the Cannonball Adderley Sextet), and Cannonball's other combos and groups, included such noted musicians as:
- pianists Bobby Timmons, Victor Feldman, Joe Zawinul, Hal Galper, Michael Wolff, George Duke, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans
- bassists Ray Brown, Sam Jones, Walter Booker, Victor Gaskin
- drummers Louis Hayes, Roy McCurdy
- saxophonists Charles Lloyd, Yusef Lateef.
The sextet was noteworthy towards the end of the 1960s for achieving crossover success with pop audiences, but doing it without making artistic concessions.
By the end of 1960s, Adderley's playing began to reflect the influence of the electric jazz avant-garde, and Miles Davis' experiments on the album Bitches Brew. On his albums from this period, such as Accent on Africa (1968) and The Price You Got to Pay to Be Free (1970), he began doubling on soprano saxophone, showing the influence of John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter. In that same year, his quintet appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, and a brief scene of that performance was featured in the 1971 psychological thriller Play Misty for Me, starring Clint Eastwood. In 1975 he also appeared (in an acting role alongside Jose Feliciano and David Carradine) in the episode "Battle Hymn" in the third season of the TV series Kung Fu.
Joe Zawinul's composition "Cannon Ball" (recorded on Weather Report's album Black Market) is a tribute to his former leader. Pepper Adams and George Mraz dedicated the composition "Julian" on the 1975 Pepper Adams album (also called "Julian") days after Cannonball's death.
Songs made famous by Adderley and his bands include "This Here" (written by Bobby Timmons), "The Jive Samba," "Work Song" (written by Nat Adderley), "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (written by Joe Zawinul) and "Walk Tall" (written by Zawinul, Marrow and Rein). A cover version of Pops Staples' "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)?" also entered the charts.
Adderley was initiated as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity (Gamma Theta chapter, University of North Texas, '60, & Xi Omega chapter, Frostburg State University, '70) and Alpha Phi Alpha (Beta Nu chapter, Florida A&M University).
Adderley died of a stroke in 1975. He was buried in the Southside Cemetery, Tallahassee, Florida. Later that year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.
1955 - Bohemia After Dark
1955 - Discoveries
1955 - JCA and Strings
1955 - Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley
1955 - Presenting Cannonball Adderley
1955 - Spontaneous Combustion
1955 - Supreme Jazz - CA
1955 - The Savoy Recordings (Nat & Julian)
1955 - The Summer Of '55 (Nat & Julian)
1956 - In the Land of Hi-Fi
1956-58 - Sophisticated Swing (The EmArcy Small-Group Sessions)
1958 - Cannonball's Sharpshooters
1958 - Portrait of Cannonball
1958 - Somethin' Else
1958 - Things Are Getting Better (w. Milt Jackson)
1959 - Cannonball & Coltrane (CAQ in Chicago w JC)
1959 - Just Friends
1959 - The CA Collection, Vol. 6 - Takes Charge
1959 - The CAQ In San Francisco
1960 - At The Lighthouse
1960 - CA and The Poll-Winners
1960 - Paris, 1960
1960 - The CA Collection, Vol. 1 - Them Dirty Blues
1960 - What Is This Thing Called Soul (Live In Europe)
1961 - African Waltz
1961 - Know What I Mean (w. Bill Evans)
1961 - Nancy Wilson & Cannonball Adderley
1961 - The CAQ Plus
1962 - Cannonball's Bossa Nova
1962 - Cleanhead and Cannonball
1962 - Dizzy's Business
1962 - In New York
1962 - Jazz Workshop Revisited
1962 - The CA Collection, Vol. 7 - Cannonball In Europe!
1963 - Complete Live in Tokyo 1963
1963 - Lugano, 1963
1963 - Nippon Soul
1964 - CA's Fiddler on the Roof
1964 - Cannonball Adderley Live!
1964 - Live Sessions (CA & Ernie Andrews)
1965 - Domination
1966 - Cannonball In Japan
1966 - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!
1966 - Money In The Pocket
1967 - 74 Miles Away (Walk Tall)
1967 - Why Am I Treated So Bad!
1968 - Accent On Africa
1968 - Radio Nights
1969 - Alto Giant
1969 - Country Preacher
1969 - Paris Jazz Concert
1969 - Top Jazz - CAQ
1970 - The CA Quintet & Orchestra
1970 - The Price You Got To Pay To Be Free
1972 - Music, You All
1972 - Soul Zodiac
1972 - The Black Messiah
1972 - The Happy People
1973 - Inside Straight
1974 - Pyramid
1975 - Phenix
2002 - Ballads (1958-1967)
2006 - Adderley Brothers- The Savoy Recordings 1955
2008 - Walk Tall - The David Axelrod Years (1964-1975)
2019 - Swingin' in Seattle Live at the Penthouse 1966-1967 (Remastered)
