Cannonball Adderley Music

Artist Overview
Cannonball Adderley's blues-soaked tone and swinging delivery on alto sax stood out immediately when he arrived in New York in 1955. He joined the Miles Davis Quintet a few years later and appeared on the seminal KIND OF BLUE album. While many were searching for new forms during the '60s, Adderley, in a quintet with his brother Nat, stuck wholeheartedly to a gospel-tinged soul-blues style. The group's hits, such as 1967's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," pushed jazz closer to rock without compromising the music's spirit, a trend Adderley would carry on through the fusion-drenched '70s.