Cannonball Adderley
Cannonball's Bossa Nova

In the wake of "Jazz Samba" by Getz & Byrd, it's time to talk about "Cannonball's Bossa Nova". In my opinion, a very underrated album, which offers rather interesting insights.

We're in December '62, at the tail end of that '62 that will go down in history as the year of the Bossa Nova boom; thus, while Creed Taylor decidedly bet on his horse, namely Getz, surely Orrin Keepnews, one of the most prominent old foxes in Jazz productions, bet on his protégé Cannonball Adderley. That December, New York would host the three recording sessions from which "Cannonball's Bossa Nova" would emerge. This album has been for me one of the best examples from which I learned the lesson that says: "in music, pauses are more important than notes". I don't remember who said this phrase, but from this small technical detail, one can unmistakably grasp the language mastery that Adderley had through his Alto sax. Like speaking with a voice. Same principle: it's very nice to hear someone who gauges their words well, who makes the right pauses to give the right tone and nuances to the speech. With this, I’m prompted to draw a parallel, thinking of an album mentioned in the DeRece of "Jazz Samba": the pauses in Coleman Hawkins's "Desafinado..." album are horrendous, listless, shadows that someone like Hawkins doesn't deserve.

Unfortunately, not all donuts come out with a hole, but it was something that unsettled me, as Coleman is one of my favorite saxophonists, and Bossa Nova is one of the most exciting musical terrains I have encountered. This Bossa Nova album by Cannonball, although remaining a unique example in his discography, leaves an incontrovertible element in my opinion: the language of Bossa Nova Cannonball had made his own, but on his terms. A Bossa Nova rich in solutions and with strong nods to Bop, and in some ways, this element makes Adderley's bossanovistic style more fascinating and at least worthy of deeper exploration compared to the nuanced, defined, and linear style of Getz. Structures dressed with a new outfit, which pair excellently with the musical skeleton created by the Bossa Rio Sextet of Brazil led by Sergio Menedes. An enticing and peripheral Bossa of Cannonball, certainly not mainstream and slick - in a good way - like Getz's. They simply brought their American background to the service of the Brazilian cause; with different but equally splendid results. From his saxophone reeds emerged shades and notes that were aggressive, full-bodied, ardent, romantic, and vertiginous. Cannonball brings a lot of his America into his Bossa Nova - more than Getz -; not only in stylistic terms, as mentioned earlier, but also in structural and arrangement terms: like the Swing Band introduction in "Sambops" for example, written by Bossa Rio guitarist Durval Ferreira, and the precursor of an engaging track levitated by Bop influences in a Samba sauce. Or like the first beats of "Batida Diferentes" that wink at Boogie, again penned by Ferreira. These are two of the tracks where the brass of Pedro Paulo (Trumpet) and Paulo Moura (Alto) manage to create a fabric on which harmonious embroidery like Cannonball’s fits like cheese on macaroni. A surprising fact is the limited presence of some piece by Jobim or other sacred monsters of Bossa. A peculiarity, surely.

Cannonball thus tries, by making a brave choice for those who sought to explore Bossa Nova at that time, to not focus the blinding light on himself with the most famous compositions of Jobim or other Brazilian composers of the moment, who were gaining so much success during that period. It would have been folly nonetheless to completely disregard Tom Jobim, hence a breathtaking "Corcovado", which shines with its own light; which will reach the peak in terms of elegance (also thanks to a highly inspired Mendes on the Piano) in the alternative version present on the album. Having gone so far, let's go a step further: the wondrous trio of Jobim-De Moraes-Gilberto couldn’t be missing, hence a sublime "O Amor Em Paz". The album is largely composed of delightful compositions born within the Bossa Rio, except for the mentioned songs and a festive "Minha Saudades" by Joao Donato, raised in the myth of Stan Kenton and one of the key figures in the early days of Bossa Nova; but whom history, unfortunately, has relegated to the figure of minor; albeit with an incredible career behind him.

I would like, in my small way, for this album to be re-evaluated. It may seem too much the five that I will give it, given that it is not a historical and renowned production, neither within Bossa Nova nor in Cannonball's Discography itself; but in my opinion, it is one of the most intriguing examples born from the meeting between Americans and Brazilian music.