Nat Adderley

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I can't agree with some of the posts that put Nat on the same level as players such as Art Farmer, Blue Mitchell or Thad Jones. To my ears, those three were clearly superior jazz players to Nat.

You may be misreading some of the earlier posts. MG and I were comparing Nat to those artists from the point of view of doing a lot with the beauty of tone from their instruments. That is not to say that he is at the same level as they are.

Some people, and I'm one, hear music first as SOUND; not melody, harmony or rhythm. They come (fractionally) later with me. So people like Nat, Blue and Art (and others like Jug, Pharoah, Jaws, John Wright, Grant Green, Sonny Cox and Sonny Criss) make the most impact on me because of their sound.

But hang on a tick; what's all this about X being superior to Y? Or A not being at the same level as B? Are we drawing up league tables for jazz musicians?

My understanding is that this is a medium in which personal expression is key. So are you saying that X (Nat, in this case, but it doesn't matter) is not capable of expressing himself as well as Y? And how do you know that? I don't think you do. In my view, Nat was as good at playing Nat as Blue was at playing Blue. So what you seem to be saying is there's something intrinsically less worthwhile about being Nat than about being Blue. Now, I don't think you want to be saying that.

I think the most you want to say is that you value most about jazz different things from those I value most.

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I've been listening to Cannonball Adderley's "Portrait of Cannonball" and "Cannonball takes charge" this morning.

It's very interesting how different these albums are from the ones Cannon made with his and Nat's band. Not only are the general thrusts of the two albums completely different from what the quintet was doing - the first is a straight bebop album, the second strangely like something Benny Carter might have put together - but Cannon's playing is different - he seems to me much more focused on melody and flow.

I think it shows how much that band owed to Nat.

About the only track where you get the dirty funk stuff that the later albums are full of is "Blue funk" on "Portrait". So it seems to me that Nat didn't take Cannonball anywhere he didn't want to go, but he was critical to Cannon's actually getting there.

MG

[mjzee]

Found a vinyl copy of Nat's "Hummin'" (Little David).  I'm enjoying this.  Polished, sure, but not slick.  A little like CTI, but without that sizzling sheen.  Influenced by George Benson's mid-70's output, but not in a bad way.  It just aims to please, but there's a lot of substance behind the pretty veneer.

[fasstrack]

On ‎8‎/‎23‎/‎2003 at 5:42 AM, JohnS said:

Over the last few weeks three of four cds on Riverside and Verve by or featuring Nat Adderley have reached the top of my to play pile. It occurred to me that he always comes up with a good solid and very enjoyable peformance but doesn't get his due. In my opinion he's an undersung hero.

 

Anyone else like to share their thoughts on Brother Nat?

I agree. He had great spirit and personality, and a strong sound. I like Work Song and the things I have heard with Julian. I heard that he was in a Woody Herman small group, but haven't heard that yet...

[Eric]

On 3/30/2016 at 2:04 PM, mjzee said:

Found a vinyl copy of Nat's "Hummin'" (Little David).  I'm enjoying this.  Polished, sure, but not slick.  A little like CTI, but without that sizzling sheen.  Influenced by George Benson's mid-70's output, but not in a bad way.  It just aims to please, but there's a lot of substance behind the pretty veneer.

Thanks for the heads up - found a copy on eBay.  His CTI albums are nice.