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Rating:
Very likely, this review should have been cataloged under Cannonball Adderley, who was Joe Zawinul's bandleader from '61 to '70. But the album deliberately collects only tracks signed by Zawinul, and the selection was entrusted to Joe himself. The greatness of this determined Austrian can be seen even in the small things: there was no studio version of Dr. Honoris Causa with Cannonball's group; well, Joe does not hesitate to include in the compilation a mind-blowing version featuring George Duke on the electric piano; Joe had just left the band in '71.
We find ten tracks on the CD: each more dazzling and significant than the other, with a great sense of the group's overall compactness. The core of this band was formed by the Cannonbal and Nat brothers (saxophone and trumpet) and Joe. The rhythmic section, stable live, was constituted by Victor Gaskin and Roy McCurdy on bass and drums: two hurricanes and at the same time two solid references for the evolutions of the three trapeze artists of the pentagram. The two rhythms were sometimes replaced, for various needs, in the recording studio; however, always by people of equal caliber: stuff like Louis Hayes, Grady Tate, Richard Davis, Sam Jones, etc. (just for fun!).
In general, the humble reviewer absolutely does not like to buy compilations, since they are almost entirely mixed fry containing incomplete pieces of works that are, in the artist's intentions, decidedly 'other'; but having nothing of Zawinul with Adderley, blindly one took this CD, which is instead an energy bomb and a little chronicle at the same time. We are in full hard bop territory, with soul progressions and some very evident germs of the future development of Weather Report, already sculpted by Joe's strong, almost percussive hands on the piano.
A record that decidedly inclines to discover Zawinul's long initial period in the US alongside the Adderley brothers, who for him constituted both a family away from Europe and a gym to develop personality, tastes, experiences, and artistic logics: an exchange of favors and courtesies between musicians that probably, if it gave so much to Joe, brought equal value and growth to Cannonball and Nat.
Very brief review. I would say no more and leave to the curious and intelligent spirits, as well as to Zawinul enthusiasts, the pleasure of discovering this introductory compilation, I repeat, both for the work of the Adderley brothers and for the early Zawinul: it indeed reveals the most jazzy side, in the canonical sense. I almost forgot to say that although these recordings were made a good 40 years ago, the musical level is so high, and the interplay, the development of the tracks and the solos so breathtaking and intelligent that the record seems recorded the day before yesterday and extremely current; it practically stands very well on its own and will spin in your player many times! The gem is definitely the version of Dr. Honoris Causa, but the whole album is truly superb!!!
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