Cannonball Adderley is one of those sax players who made a name in the 50’s playing with his own groups or with his brother plus had an active recording career as side man to many others at that time & through the 60’s, including Miles Davis. A solid if not adventurous player but held his own when giving the challenge.
big cheese
I have Sophisticated Swing a double cd set of his quintet sessions. A sweet set of originals and some standards: A Foggy Day, What’s New? – engaging and timeless. I picked it up at HMV in February 1999, probably on sale. The set includes in the foldouts all the original cover, which hasn’t dared that much either. These could be new recordings by a new quintet & sound & look as fresh.
cozy nook at Loyalist
The reason I have Cannonball is because he did a session with John Coltrane in Feb 1959. In 1959 35 minutes was considered a full Lp, now it’s a ep. I have to play it twice to feel I heard enough of it. Coltrane was coming into his own & had extensive work on his own. I picked it up in 1998 when I was on my Coltrane completest mission.
spring is around the corner?
It’s a mix of originals & covers. All are solid but not overly challenging. A much as I love Coltrane – I’ve blogged about him a couple of times – my favourite cut on this CD (& one of my all-time favourite jazz cuts) is one Coltrane doesn’t play on. Adderley does a ravishing job on ‘Stars Fell On Alabama’ – that took my breath away the first (& every time) I heard it. Warm, evocative and soaring this is why I love jazz. Some performances are a blessing & with this one Adderley blesses us all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sceg-vTV_4
April 21, Monday – featuring – Lizzie Violet’s Poetry Open Mic at The Amsterdam Bicycle Club – 7:30 – doors and open mic sign up, 8:00 – start – 54 The Esplanade, Toronto https://www.facebook.com/events/1379693865637955/
April 27, Sunday – attending – Julie Czerndea Workshop http://chiseries.ticketleap.com/chiseriesworkshop-julie-czerneda/
Julie Czerndea
June 6-8 – attending – Bloody Words
June 23-27 – attending – Manuscript to Book – Loyalist Summer Arts – Belleville, Ont https://www.facebook.com/events/589522924455695/
keeping the order on campus at Loyalist
August 28-31 – attending – FanExpo Canada http://www.fanexpocanada.com
another of the Viral prompts – ‘swimming’ – cannonball is jumping off a diving board in a tight ball to splash everyone – which doesn’t happen in this –
Blue Towel Blues
I don’t swim
don’t ask me
that’s a song reference
I don’t dance
don’t ask me
I do dance though
not as much as I once did
it gets boring dancing alone
but even with the buddy system
I never got into swimming
I did try to learn
as a kid I was enrolled
at the YMCA
one of those standard issue
‘things done to make young men
into healthy sporty go-getters’
to train them for manhood
I learned
I hated the dusty smell of wood floors
the rough sweaty feel of the hemp rope
that I couldn’t climb
the cold of wet shower floors
gave me chills in summer
and I was terrified
of someone seeing
my skinny pale nakedness
I didn’t have any ideas of queerness then
though I knew
what otherness meant
because I was not a fitter in
the YMCA was a way
my folks hoped I would learn
to play well like others boys
what I did learn
was that boys who wore their towels
around their waists
coming or going to the shower
were called maid marian
we had to shower before and after
the swim lessons
we weren’t allowed to arrive
then depart with bathing suits on
or under our clothes
showers were mandatory
I can’t remember a face
or a hairy leg
only the feeling of that cold wet tile underfoot
the struggle to clasp that blue towel
around my shivering waist
being called maid marian
when trying to keep it
from being pulled off me
I wasn’t the only one teased this way
which didn’t help me learn to swim
funny though
I did end up going to Y Camp
two summers in a row
having a crush on one of the counsellors
tipping my canoe to get his attention
but never learning to swim
I don’t swim
don’t ask me
but you don’t need permission
to pull off my towel
not suitable for swimming
TOpoet 