Customer Reviews

Them Dirty Blues

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Cannonball Adderley is one of those rare jazz musicians who immediately grabs ahold of your attention with his superior technique and supremely rich imagination. When you combine those traits with the fact he manages to convey a genuine sense of joy in his music, you have one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. Based in the language of Charlie Parker, but possessing his own indivduality, this former teacher's powers are on full display throughout this recording. A Capitol re-release of a Riverside lp from 1960, Adderley is backed by his brother Nat on cornet, Louis Hayes on drums, the propulsive Sam Jones on bass, sharing the piano chair are Barry Harris (tracks 1-4) and Bobby Timmons (tracks 5-9). While Nat, Harris, and Timmons all provide high points, it is truly Adderley who is on display, ranging from simmering to a rolling boil his solos here are some of his best on record. A superior blues player, his infectious enthusiasm propels Adderley and company through some of the funkiest tracks this side of Horace Silver. There are no throw away tracks on this cd, but Nat Adderley's Work Song, Timmons' Dat Dere, and Cannonball's own Them Dirty Blues are standouts. This is one of Cannonball's best sessions as a leader, and is easily recommended, just buy it and find out for yourself!

Cannonball could play bebop, he could play modal, he could play with strings, he could play anything anyone threw at him. But where he was truly the best, where he was absolutely THE BEST was when playing the blues, and dirty ones at that. As Bill Kirchner (jazz critic) calls it: "sophisticated gutbucket." This album shows Cannonball with his best passionate, hard-swinging soloes, especially on both versions of Work Song, the title track, and Jeanine. Nat's more restrained cornet soloes are a perfect counterweight, and Louis Hayes, Sam Jones, and either Barry Harris or Bobby Timmons (Timmons being my personal preference) in the rhythm section make this a very tight band. Everything is good, except for Cannonball, who is superb. So very soulful.

One good bonus of this cd is that you have 2 versions of Work Song, the first being an up-tempo funk version, and the second a more medium-tempo hard bop version. I actaully prefer the hard bop version, but it's great to hear them both. This is highly recommended.

Cannonball's exciting quintet is presented here on their second album, their first recorded in a studio. The quintet (Cannonball on alto sax, his brother Nat on cornet, either Bobby Timmons or Barry Harris on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums) is superbly presented here on great hard bop originals, a blues written by Cannonball, two standards, and a great piece by Duke Pearson called "Jeannine". "Work Song", by Nat, presents Cannonball in his usual swingin' self. Be warned it's one of those melodies that gets stuck in your head for awhile. The alternate take is a welcome addition and it is interesting to compare it from the master. Other originals presented on the album are the title blues, Bobby Timmons's "Dat Dere" (which is my personal favorite on the album and is also presented with an alternate take), and Sam Jones's "Del Sasser". These all present the band in their usual, cookin' state and "Work Song","Dat Dere", and "Del Sasser" are tunes that stayed in the quintet's repitoire for most of its existence. The two standards are "Easy Living", a ballad, and "Soon", a George Gershwin tune. "Jeannine" is a flowing melody that you will most likely find yourself humming at unexpected moments. The entire album highlights the wonderful solo techniques of the Adderley brothers, as well as both of the awesome pianists that are featured. Overall, the album finds the quintet in top form and is an essential for anybody that is a fan of Adderley.

Most of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet's best-known recordings were recorded live, or pretended to be. This, the Quintet's 2nd album, is an exception. As a result, it doesn't match the hot intensity of their best live recordings. That said, it has its own charms.

It took a while for the group to settle on a pianist - Bobby Timmons lasted for only one-and-a-half albums, and is replaced by bebop specialist Barry Harris on four tracks.

The album is best known for Nat Adderley's "Work Song" and Timmons's "Dat Dere". "Work Song" gets a nice runthrough here, but is a pale shadow of later live versions. It's also worth highlighting Duke Pearson's "Jeannine", one of the best performances on this album.

In general I favor this group's live work, but upon revisiting Them Dirty Blues I found it to be very enjoyable. Recommended!

This is cannonball's best hard bop album slightly edging out his riverside debut "portrait of cannonball" which featured blue mitchell on trumpet. Here it is cannonball's brother nat in his typical place in the band at cornet and playing extremly well as usual. The album starts out with a snappy version of nat's "work song" with 6 other blues drenched songs. An exellent version of Bobby timmons classic "dat dere" and the superb title song. This is cannonball at his best with a solid support cast top to bottom. Important for all hard bop fans to own this one.

The only negative is the sound quality that is mediocre on some tunes. The master recording was done with riverside and then picked up by columbia when riverside folded. Song number 6 was actually dubbed from an LP which doesn't give you the best sound quality.

I'm a musician from Florida, been playing since before this album was new. The Adderley brothers, graduates of the great music program at Florida A&M University, have a reputation in their home state that resonates to this day.

Cannonball demonstrates here that a 12-bar blues gives you all you need to play brilliant stuff. I think every rock guitar hero and wannabe should have to go back to the woodshed until they can play at least four of Cannon's choruses from this album, note for note. That alone would raise the quality of rock music a couple orders of magnitude. Intensity, faithfulness to the blues idiom, wit, humor, great tone and a conversational, storytelling style. Sure, the tunes are substantial and challenging, and the arrangements are sophisticated stuff. But it's the solos that are truly brilliant, uplifting music, which musicians should study humbly for decades to come.

All the feeling of a live gig is conveyed in this 1960 studio recording, thanks to expressive performances by the whole quintet. You'd be hard pressed to find a better jazz CD at this price (at this writing, $7.97).
There's never been any doubt about Cannonball's mastery of the blues, ably demonstrated here on the title track and on "Dat Dere." But he could also swing ("Del Sasser" and "Soon") and brilliantly interpret ballads ("Easy Living" will be his most memorable performance of this set for many listeners). Whatever the style, his improvisational ideas were musically interesting, even during passages that showed off his impressive technique.
One of the best characteristics of the Adderley brothers' quintets of this era was the ensemble sound they created, combining harmony and counterpoint with clever licks that elevated the group beyond merely soloists taking turns. The freedom and agility of a small group along with the discipline usually associated with a big band made for a great combination.

The first four songs on this album are classics. Don't worry if you've never heard anybody refer to them as classics or if you've never heard them yourself. They are classics. "Work Song," "Them Dirty Blues," and "Easy Living," are sincere blues numbers that will undoubtedly make you think of whatever has you down and then they'll pick you right up as well. "Jeanine," the Duke Pearson song, is my personal favorite and I'd rather not say more than that, because I'm afraid I'll botch up with words whatever it is I feel and think about when I hear it. The remaining three songs are great but the first four are really worth every penny. While the main star in the band was obviously Cannonball, his brother Nat plays a mean cornet. Sounding a tinge darker than you might expect on a trumpet, his cornet adds a restrained vibrance that differs from the unbound exuberance of the bop players, and you are glad he does as the music here is never wild. It begs to be heard with a scotch in hand(or maybe that's just me). The brothers have styles that compliment each other so well that you often hear them volley ideas to one another and to the other band memebers, who are; Barry Harris, Bobby Timmons on piano, Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on drums, I mean c'mon now, really, C'MON NOW, these guys are vicious. In all honesty, though, Cannonball plays so nasty and sweet that he commands your attention, especially on "Easy Living." If you don't already have "Something Else," his live albums, or his work with Miles Davis, please, please, do yourself a favor and get these also.

On the back insert of this CD, Capitol notes:

"There are problems in the available tapes for these sessions, resulting in occasional bass distortion, a shifting of the drum image and other minor problems. Track 6 was evidently dubbed from an LP. Every effort has been made to make the sound as good as possible with existing sources."

These tracks were recorded for the Riverside label in 1960, and Adderley brought them to Capitol in 1963. Using high-quality headphones, I didn't find the bass more "wooly" than is the usual for recordings of this vintage, and the miking of the drums was par for the course as well. Track 6 "Del Sasser" does have some ticks, so it would appear that for some reason its source was an LP. Apparently there was no suitable alternate take.

I give Capitol a thumbs-up for honesty in packaging. Overall, I'd rate the sound of these tracks as pretty good considering they were laid down in 1960: clean and a little warm. Unlike other reviewers, I didn't find the alternate takes of "Work Song" and "Dat Dere" compelling, and too often alternate material just pads out an album. But it doesn't do much harm here, either. "Jeannine," which Eddie Jefferson recorded in 1977, and "Work Song" are reasons enough to get "Them Dirty Blues."

Cannonball Adderley, who will probably always be remembered for his role opposite of John Coltrane on Miles Davis' classic 1959 recording "Kind Of Blue," many people haven't explored his work outside of that album. "Them Dirty Blues" released by Capitol Jazz in 1960 features an all-star group of musicians: Nat Adderley on cornet, Bobby Timmons or Barry Harris on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. This album also features some of three jazz standards, and if their not standards by now then they should be, "Work Song," "Jeannine" and Bobby Timmons' "Dat Dere." Anyone interested in getting into Cannonball Adderley's work as a leader should start here. Highly recommended.