Product Description:
Personnel: Cannonball Adderley (alto saxophone); Bill Evans (piano); Percy Heath (bass); Connie Kay (drums).
Recorded at Bell Sound Studios, New York, New York on January 27, February 21 and March 13, 1961. Originally released on Riverside (9433). Includes liner notes by Joe Goldberg and Orrin Keepnews.
Digitally remastered by David Luke (1987, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).
Possibly the best of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley's many releases, 1961's KNOW WHAT I MEAN? finds the alto saxophonist in a different setting. Usually found fronting hard-bop combos featuring his brother Nat on cornet, Adderley is here accompanied by pianist Bill Evans, bassist Percy Heath, and Modern Jazz Quartet drummer Connie Kay. In these more placid surroundings, Adderley showcases an entirely different side to his playing.
Accompanied by Evans' impressionistic, watery piano and Kay's low-key drums, Adderley's lines are lighter and more peaceful than his usual bluesy tone. The opening "Waltz for Debby" and the moody "Who Cares" could pass for outtakes from Miles Davis' KIND OF BLUE, a record on which both Adderley and Evans had played. KNOW WHAT I MEAN? is something of an anomaly for Adderley, but it's a delightful one. This is an under-appreciated masterwork of modern jazz. The CD includes two alternate takes.
