During the 60s many of the Adderley recordings were driven by his chemistry with his pianist Joe Zawinul. The combination of Adderley’s sweet lyricism on the alto saxophone, and Zawinul’s rhythmic ideas is strong in this period. It led to their hit Mercy, mercy, mercy that I wrote about earlier, along with Walk tall. Both are on this record.
Zawinul was from Austria, born in 1932. He taught himself accordeon, and studied cello and piano. His first gig as a professional musician was with Adderley’s Quintet, for nine years. In the liner notes of this record Adderley told the interviewer that he doesn’t hire sidemen, but that he hires voices. In the quintet, he gave them lots of freedom. That gave Zawinul steam and new ideas. After his time with Adderley, Zawinul started Weather report with Wayne Shorter: a highly influential jazz fusion band.
This recording appeared in a limited, numbered release, both on LP and CD. The LP was a special edition for Record Store Day. It is a joy to listen. Recommended, certainly for fans of the Adderley brothers.