Cubanology Media Blog

When the CANNONBALL ADDERLEY QUINTET finished Hi-Fly – its closing number after a four week engagement at The Jazz Workshop in San Francisco in October of 1959~the audience stood and cheered and whistled and clapped for fifteen minutes.

In a dozen years of covering jazz events in San Francisco I have never seen anything like this happen. Believe me, it was impressive. The audience absolutely loved that hand and the feeling of love spread throughout the club night after night, set after set.

It may strike you that the word ‘love” is a little over-sentimental in such a context. But it was true. There is in the current Cannonball Adderley group a great. sweeping feeling of warmth that is the characteristic of jazz which. all attempts to intellectualize it to the contrary notwithstanding marks it as a reflection of the best of American culture.

When Dmitri Shostakovich, the Russian composer, went to hear his first authentic American jazz. he went to the Jazz Workshop and sat for an hour attentively listening to Cannonball’s group. He made no comment whatsoever, which is in itself a comment of sorts. But he dug. He smiled appreciatively several times. applauded vigorously on occasion, and leaned forward intently to watch a Louis Hayes drum solo.

The Russians were the only people in four weeks who did not move a muscle in time to the band. The rhythm of this group is contagious and its overall effect might well cause the lame to walk and the halt to throw away their crutches. At times the atmosphere of the Jazz Workshop resembled a church as much as jazz club. The band quite obviously was having a ball “I have never worked a job I enjoyed more” was the unanimous verdict of Julian and Nat and there was no reluctance on their part to show it. When Bobby Timmons’ exciting This Here (“it’s part shout and part moan” ) would get moving. with Bobby in the midst of one of his full-fingered. rocking solos where he seems almost to be playing a duet with himself, the whole place would start rocking and stomping with the band.

The Jazz Workshop is a small club on Broadway in the North Beach district of San Francisco. That street is today’s 52nd Street with jazz clubs and action going on all night long. people carrying on in the streets and flowing off the sidewalks into the traffic lane on the weekends. Cannonball did capacity business all through his four weeks. On the weekends you couldn’t get into the club until someone else got out (shades of the old Famous Door and the Onyx). People gathered outside the club to hear the band on the street (you could hear this band on the street, believe me) in clusters that blocked traffic.

It was, as I’ve said, quite an experience even for San Francisco, which has had a few jazz experiences.

The band was together only briefly before opening in San Francisco, but by the time the album was cut they were sounding like a series of identical twins (or should I say a set of quintuplets?). For me, hearing this group was delightful: one after another its members dominated my listening on a number. And then the impact of the full band would hit. I can honestly say that it has been a long time since I have so thoroughly enjoyed a group. I only hope that some portion of this comes through to you in hearing the album so that you may share this enjoyment

I would like to draw attention especially to two tracks, Randy Weston’s smashing Hi-Fly and Bobby Timmons’ This Here: to Nat Adderley’s jubilant, puckish playing throughout; to Julian’s incredibly rhythmic soloing (a chart of his accents would read like a drum part), to Sam Jones and to Louis Hayes………Read More

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Avante Garde? I’m truly not sure. Since I am learning as I listen, I bump into and read about different “Eras” of Jazz. There is much consistently in the early years but when you reach the “Hard Bop Era” which comes right after “Be Bop” one, there are different interpretations as to the naming of this Era itself and the existence of Jazz musicians branching out to different parts of the United States. Mostly to two meccas where “Hard Bop” existed and thrived. California and New York, East and West. You also had the “Cool Jazz” Era which was popularized by Miles Davis and occurred at the same time. Right before the Hard Bop officially ended (1965) there was the emergence of “Free Jazz” and “Avante Garde.” So there were many things going on especially in the United States, that changed the sound of Jazz and different experimental approaches. This was a combination of mostly Civil Rights movements and the simple fact that all the greats were aging and there was a considerable generation gap. Anyhow, I have placed some links below along with information about the three sets I recorded so can understand the confusion……Learn More

It was one of my favorite musical special have done, I really enjoyed putting it together and listening to these two masters of Cuban music. The dates these records were made, especially Chico O’ Farrill’s, ( 1950 to 1954) Cuban Blues, only express and acknowledge the highest quality of music. Mongo Santamaria’s incorporation and innovative introduction of the Congas into Jazz and any other type of music, only justifies why he is considered the best ever. Both of these CD Albums are actually double CD’s and Mongo’s is two different records in one. So for this reason I have separated both into two parts and this is the first. Part Two is even more revealing and will feature two long Afro-Cuban Jazz Suites and Mongo’s Bembe Album….Learn More

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Part Two:

Charles Mingus was and still is considered to be one of the best Jazz Bass player ever. This is for sure but his unknown contribution to Jazz is not recognized by mainstream music listener. His innovative form of improvisation of instruments was his golden contribution. He composed almost all of the songs you him play. In this post I will give the reader and listener as much information so they can go on and explore this man’s work. I will also include a Musical Jazz Special I made which featured the CD Album “The Mingus Dynasty.” I’ll start here with Biography….Read More

The 60 ‘s was full of pioneering music in all facets of sound but this change took place in the middle of the decade. The most popular of all was the modern Rock n’ Roll sound. But there was a revelation also in the Jazz scene. Although it was more traditional than Rock n’ Roll it was rather new. You can say it was a sort of extension of Hard Bop because most of the musicians were from the Hard Bop era and were very young at the time it officially started. The Hard Bop era ran from 1955 to 1965. After 1965 the term Avante Garde officially started, supposedly. Although I appreciate all the different Jazz eras, I personally love the Hard Bop the most but I love the Avante Garde era just as much. So I seem to be stuck between both. And anyone else would be also, since some songs from the late 50′s are very similar to ones from the late 60′s. I feel that it was just a slow transitional change and both eras overlapped. Nevertheless, the quality never changed, it was and still is the best music ever. I truly feel I could say this because of my wide range of taste. I appreciate all types of music and had the opportunity to hear them but I feel and in my opinion, that there are no more talented musicians than Jazz musicians. I always appreciated Jazz but never studied it. Now that I have begun to and believe me, I’m in the early stages, now I am appreciating it even more. These Cats are the best. Maybe because of how old fashion I am at heart and because I value tradition to its fullest, I need to fight to keep it alive. This outstanding form of music is only listened to in a very limited manner because the radio stations around the world simply do not play it. The internet has helped quite a bit but still its not enough to give it justice. I am trying to help in my own little way by promoting CD albums by way of Blogtalkradio.com. This way people can hear its beauty and purchase the music. I have to say, I’m not the best host ever, so bear with me. Just concentrate on the music, give it a chance and you will realize exactly why I devote so much time to promote it. But then again, I’m having a ball listening to it……Read More

This was my second multiple sets musical special and it featured Clifford Brown, Thelonious Monk with sonny Rollins and Tony Bennett. I started the Blogtalkradio show with a little of Clifford Brown’s Biography and played a Four song mellow set of his. Then I played a complete Album CD of Thelonious Monk together with Sonny Rollins. Last but not least, I played an eight song set of Tony Bennett. I try to talk the least as possible during my musical specials and concentrate more on playing the music, so I do not go over the time constriction. This post here will provide you with the necessary information needed to obtain a good perspective of this particular musical special…..Learn More

This musical special I’m posting here was done in a different manner and will be the format in which I will be using in my future musical specials. By no means, will I be abandoning my CD Album specials either. I will continue to feature CD Albums but they will be less of them. There are two reasons why I chose to take this path. Firstly, when I feature one specific musical artist or band, the variety and style will basically be the same. If the listeners are not so particularly interested in hearing 8 to 10 tracks that are similar, then they will get a little bored. Secondly, there is so much of an enormous amount of Classic Cuban, Classic Jazz and Classic Afro-Cuban Jazz available that it would be an injustice for me to only concentrate on one musician or band with the little time I have to do so.

I will not go overboard either. For this reason, I will be presenting three sets at the most. Of those three sets, I will have a mix set, where I will feature a theme. This will be the best and most productive manner for me to expose Classic Cuban, Classic Jazz and Afro-Cuban Music….Read More

Johnny Hodges, considered by Jazz experts and musicians alike, to be the best alto saxophonist ever. He was a pioneer and there will never anyone like him. I looked through many of his biographies and found this one to be the best one:

John Cornelius Hodges was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 25, 1907. His family later moved to Hammond Street in Boston. Hodges played both piano and drums as a child before taking up saxophone at age 13. A few days after he acquired a soprano saxophone, Hodges forced an opportunity to meet Sidney Bechet backstage at a burlesque house in Boston. Bechet heard Hodges play “My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms,” and encouraged the young saxophonist. Soon after, Hodges acquired an alto sax, which he preferred to the soprano. He experimented on his own, and took lessons sporadically for several years due to lack of funds. After he encountered Bechet a second time, Hodges’s interest in the soprano saxophone was rekindled and Bechet’s respect for Hodges’s talent was renewed. Hodges studied and worked with Bechet and eventually performed as a warm-up to Bechet’s act at Club Bechet in New York City. The young and talented Hodges also shared the spotlight with Bechet as they performed duets. Hodges, who emulated Bechet’s style, continued his association with Bechet later when the two appeared separately but on the same bill at the Rhythm Club in 1924 and together again at Club Basha in 1925. Hodges also studied with the late Benny Waters for a time before joining forces with Ellington. Waters and Hodges played in a band together around 1920 in Boston, at a time when Waters taught saxophone in between gigs and radio shows. Waters recalled Hodges as a truly natural talent on the saxophone….Read More

Oh yes, Julian Edwin “Cannonball” Adderley, the one and only, my favorite of all Alto Saxophonist. Like all great musicians and they make it their duty to create their own distinctive sound and of course, a distinctive style. Distinguishable from any other. Cannonball had his own style and sound but as all musicians, he had his own personal favorites also. It was very evident in his technique, you could hear it in his quick bursts and also in his non-stop, continuous attitude. Yes, Charlie Parker “The Bird” was definitely one, it was obvious in Cannonball’s saxophone and because of this, they were closely compared. That is true in the technique department, that’s for sure, but in his sound, there is a big difference to me. Cannonball emphasized more on making his sound to be more bluesy and even added a little southern, New Orleans taste to it, since he was from Florida. At the same time, he was also very modern and innovative. Here’s a sample, so you can understand my assessment a little more…..Read More