Product Description:
Personnel: Cannonball Adderley (alto saxophone); Bill Hall (spoken vocals); Nat Adderley (cornet); Hal Galper (electric piano); Walter Booker (bass); Roy McCurdy (drums); King Errisson (percussion).
Producers: Cannonball Adderley, David Axelrod.
Recorded at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California on June 4, 1973. Includes liner notes by Orrin Keepnews.
Digitally remastered by Gary Hobish (1992, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).
1973's INSIDE STRAIGHT is one of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley's last studio recordings--he was dead within two years of its release. But unlike some recordings made toward the end of a jazz innovator's career, it's as exciting and impassioned as most of the albums that precede it. Despite a somewhat suite-like structure--the first and last tracks are called "Introduction" and "The End," and themes recur throughout the eight tracks--this is a relaxed, swinging album.
INSIDE STRAIGHT features some outstanding solos, not only from Adderley and his cornetist brother Nat, but also from every member of the quintet. The title track and "Five of a Kind" are particular highlights of the group's improvisation, but the more structured, Brazilian-tinged "Saudade" is the album's highest point. This gentle, groove-oriented tune recalls the best work of Antonio Carlos Jobim--no small praise.
