Somethin' Else

Product Information

Julian Cannonball Adderley’s only Blue Note album, Somethin’ Else, would likely forever be famous in music lore if just for the presence of Miles Davis. It is made for discerning listeners that prize sound quality and production, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in the art – and everything involved with the album, from the iconic photos to the gorgeous finishes. Never been one of the stronger SRXs and after spinning both over the last number of days the new Mofi One Step definitely relegates this to second tier.

What emerges is not just the sound of five players doing their jobs well, but a group reveling in their common ability to galvanize and shape each other’s ideas. As veteran critic Bob Blumenthal observed writing about the album four decades after its release, “The instant rapport achieved by the quintet is thus the product of much shared and common history, though the tensile strength that they create throughout created a totally unique feeling that can be attributed to the sensitive musicianship of all concerned, including the supposedly hard bopping leader and drummer. Those who exist within their own sphere of art tend to produce works that express an inward journey, while Julian was so acutely in touch with his surroundings that he was able to include the listener .

This collector’s version takes you there – there being Rudy Van Gelder’s legendary New Jersey studio in March 1958 to witness it all unfold, again and again. He treats the theme the way a painter would, outlining it faintly in some spots and splashing it with bright, audacious colors in others. The title "Alison's Uncle" was created by Nat Adderley in the 1980s when he was asked by reissue producers to name a track that they could not identify. The twelve-bar blues "One for Daddy-O" was written by Adderley's brother Nat for Chicago radio DJ Holmes "Daddy-O" Daylie. Each and every snare hit, downbeat, and cymbal splash registered by the latter take on realistic proportions, blooming and decaying as they would right in front of you on a stage.

As brilliant as each note is, those same notes seem understated, floating like smoke, sustained just long enough for rhythmic perfection. In the 1980s, the album was re-issued with a bonus track from the recording session that was listed as "Alison's Uncle" and credited to Cannonball Adderley. Offering reference-calibre sonics, this spectacular collector’s version provides a clear, transparent, ultra-dynamic, and up-close view of a cornerstone effort that witnesses Adderley and Davis sharing horn duty alone for the only time in their fabled careers – an arrangement that occurred as a result of Adderley having joined Davis’ majestic sextet a year prior. Adderley’s band was as tight and compact as he was in stature, and it’s brilliant to hear on this record, the songs on which Miles Davis steps in, participating in like style and fashion, yet letting those signature Miles Davis elements shine through . but, to my delight, what I found as I walked through the differing syncopations, is that my taste in Jazz runs along the same lines as my taste in rock.Such inimitable feeling, or emotion, courses throughout every passage, and no where more obviously than on “Autumn Leaves” and “Love for Sale. The iconic composer/trumpeter steps into the role of sideman on the 1958 set, one of just a handful of times he’d make such a move after the calendar passed the mid-1950s. As with rock, I like it “Stoner,” and laid back, with just enough edges to hold my attention, designed around a core that develops and moves me deeper within myself . The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world’s quietest surfaces. On both sides the 9 and M are etched "sideways" relative to the rest of the information that's etched or stamped.

It’s the sound of a circuit being created in the moment, sprouting arms and branches and new directions as it travels around the bandstand.Without question, the discreet interpretations of the Johnny Mercer and Cole Porter songs, respectively, found on Somethin’ Else have long been considered part of jazz’s alluring mystique. Cannonball came from a very technical musical background, not only playing but teaching music, which is no doubt one of the reasons his particular form of Jazz both connects and resonates so well.