Two heroes of the bebop sound, Cannonball Adderley and Dizzy Gillespie, return to their church roots on these recently discovered albums from the 60s and 70s.
Cannonball Adderley is found at the In Concert Room in Montreal, Canada for a May 3, 1975 gig with brother Nat/ct, Michael Wolff/p, Walter Booker/b and Roy McCurdy/dr on an album with the team focusing on stretched out soul grooves. The team does a rapid run on “First Of A Kind”, and Booker teams with Woff for a driving “Waban”, but with feel is definitely Sunday Morning on a fervent “Mercy,Mercy, Mercy” and with Adderley behind the pulpit on “Country Preacher”. A h ealing service, indeed!
In 1968, Dizzy Gillespie teamed up for a ringer of an album with James Moody/ts/fl, Joe Newman/tp, Jimmy Tyrell/b, Ray Lucas/dr, Al Williams/org, as just a few of the guests on the big band album of get down home cooking. There’s a swampy R&B feel to pieces like “Stomped and Wasted” and a lot of gospel with a chorus or solo for “Pot Licka” and “Turnip Tops”. You might think this was an album of outtakes for Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin On? When you hear “Clabber Bisquits” and “The Fly Fox” with a get down attitude on “Turkey Fan”. Dry rub jazz.