Track Listing

1. Autumn Leaves
2. Love for Sale
3. Somethin' Else
4. One for Daddy-O
5. Dancing in the Dark
6. Bangoon [#][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2076 in Music
• Released on: 1999-03-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.com
When alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley culled together this quartet, he grabbed three champions from seemingly disparate schools to complement his flinty solos: Miles Davis, the king of cool; Art Blakey, the thundering force of hard bop; Hank Jones, a veteran of swing; and Sam Jones, a versatile bassist adaptable to nearly any setting. The results are one of Blue Note's most beloved albums. The open-ended beauty of "Autumn Leaves," which features Davis beautifully stating the melody on muted trumpet, sounds like it could easily be an outtake from Kind of Blue (which it isn't). The midtempo title track provides the centerpiece of this classic as Adderley echoes Miles's swaggering melody before both unravel wonderful solos. A must-have Blue Note album. --John Murph

Customer Reviews

Simply one of the all time greats...
Cut in 1958 for the Blue Note Lable, Somethin' Else is one of the all time great jazz albums. The personnel features Cannonball on alto, Miles Davis on Trumpet, Hank Jones on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and the great Art Blakey on drums. It may say Cannonball Adderly on the album cover, and have Miles Davis listed as a sideman, but this has the feel of a Miles Davis album all the way. The selection of material and the musician's laid back approach, tempered by the contrast of Mile's simmering mute with an expressive firey second horn, here the exuberant Adderley, are trademarks from this era of Davis' career. Regardless of who led the session, it is one any fan of jazz simply must have. It is one of those rare albums that is immediately accessable, and you can tell you will be listening to repeatedly from the first note. Every track's performance is a highlight, but Cannonball's playing is particularly inspired, especially his soulful blues soaked soloing on Dancing in the dark, and boppish flight on One For Daddy-O. Miles is dramatic, soulful, vulnerable, and sultry all at once. His muted playing on the first two tracks is simply sumptuous, with his open horn solo on One For Daddy-O and his "call and response" exchange with Adderley at the end of the title track being truly inspired. Hank Jones contributes a flawless hard swinging piano. Taking every note he is given and making it count, Hank makes his accompaniment as well as his solos sound as if he is playing them the only way they possibly could be. Art Blakey and the underrated Sam Jones are water tight in support, with Blakey unusually restrained throughout the album, his only solo space on the album's final track. At the end of One For Daddy-O we hear a puckish Miles ask producer Alfred Lion, "Is that what you wanted, Alfred?", and then some I'll wager. This is an album that will appeal to the jazz novice and the aficionado alike, if you do not have it, buy it, you won't be dissappointed.

"Allison Uncle" and "Rangoon"
There are a few reissues of this absolutely great Cannonball Adderley recording. The first five cuts on all the reissues are the same 5 cuts that make up the original vinyl LP. A few of the reissued CD's have an additional sixth cut. The sixth cut was discovered by Blue Note and initially released in Japan in 1982 and given the name "Allison's Uncle" because Nat Adderley's daughter was born on the day it was recorded. Further research revealed that the mystery tune is a Hank Jones composition that the pianist recorded as "Rangoon" with the Gigi Gryce/Donald Byrd Jazz Lab quintet for a Jubilee label in August 1957. Therefore, please be advised that "Allison's Uncle" and "Rangoon" and the same exact cut, just with a different name for the same song. I got this info from the Rudy Van Gelder Edition footnotes by Bob Blumenthal. Tidbits like this are very important to me and thought it might be valuable to others as well.

This quintet of jazz greats truely was "Something Else!"
One of the best recordings in Jazz's long history was made when five of the premire musicians of Jazz, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, Art Blakey, and the other greats got together for this landmark recording. From the first song "Autumn Leaves" to the last song "Bangoon", each and every song on this showcases the brilliant musicianship and uniqueness that this quintet had. Miles Davis on his unique and brilliant Trumpet, Cannonball Adderly on the Sax, and Art Blakey on the Drums, as well as the other greats on this show their fantastic style excellently. This timeframe of Jazz (mid 1950's to early 1960's) produced some of the absolute best recordings that Jazz ever offered.

Something Else is a perfect way to introduce a person who never listened to Jazz to the fantastic, complex sound of the Jazz world. In my opinion, this is an album (CD) that every Jazz enthusiast MUST have in their collection, it is that brilliant and fresh and can be listened to with enjoyment over and over again. Well worth 5 stars and more!