Cannonball Adderley

Straight No Chaser Adderley Cannonball 1974

Cannonball Adderley alto sax, Nat Adderley trumpet, George Duke piano, Walter Bocker bass and Roy McCurdy were the Adderley Quintet.
In 1974 they performed as part of the Newport Jazz Festival in a concert in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
"Cannonball" Adderley (1928 - 1975), originally from Tampa, Florida, was a jazz alto saxophonist of the small combo era of the 1950s and 1960s.
The nickname "Cannonball" was a childhood nickname for the portly saxophonist. An articulate speaker with an easy manner, Cannonball educated, amused, and informed his audiences in clubs and on television about the art and moods of jazz (he was a music teacher before beginning his jazz career).
His professional career was long established prior to teaching applied instrumental music classes at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Cannonball was a local legend in Florida until he moved to New York City in 1955.
He joined the Miles Davis sextet in 1957, around the time that John Coltrane left the group to join Thelonious Monk's band. (Coltrane would return to Davis's group in 1958). Adderley played on the seminal Davis records Milestones and Kind of Blue. Davis had this to say of Adderley's style: "He had a certain spirit. You couldn't put your finger on it, but it was there in his playing every night."