Customer Reviews

Naturally

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Cornetist Nat Adderley's "Naturally!" was a natural choice to finally get reissued by the folks at OJC. (It's nice to see there are still some gems in the vaults.) A delightful disc, it is actually two different sessions. The first four tracks are from 6/20/61 and feature the rhythm trio that was associated at this time with his brother Cannonball -- Joe Zawinul on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. Tracks 5-8 were recorded a month later on 7/19/61 and feature the rhythm trio of Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. While these two great trios more than amply back Nat, the album lacks a certain cohesion, particularly due to the contrasting styles of Zawinul and Kelly. This concept of a split LP might have worked fine for vinyl, where you literally had to flip over the record to hear the other band, but it loses something on CD. It is still a strong effort nonetheless, though jazz listeners new to Nat may want to start with "Work Song," or one of his outings with brother Cannonball.

Nat is of course overlooked. The other day I was listening to something (not sure right now of what it was), and the trumpet- ok, it was the cornet- really caught my ear... I looked it up and it was Nat Adderley. I then went on a Nat Adderley craze, pulling out everything I have on him and getting more. I knew that this- being a quartet session from 1961 had to be good. The cd is culled from two sessions and Nat is the main man here without any saxophone. I oftentimes check out allmusic.com to see how they rate an item. They said this wasn't essential, but very good. It sure is really good, as is just about everything from Nat during this period, the golden years... what is amazing though is that Nat made some pretty fine albums as late as into the 1990's with Vincent Herring, an altoist straight out of Cannonball. This may not be essential, but I'd be disappointed if I didn't have it. It is quite an excellent album of straight ahead jazz music...

This is my favorite Nat Adderley album. Compared to many of his other, especially later, releases, this CD is quite a standout. The album mixes tempos nicely, and tune selection is excellent. Only the slow "Love Letters" doesn't do much for me; all the other tunes are very good. Recommended.