Cannonball's Sharpshooters in Bloomington, MN

Recording three studio albums for the
EmArcy
label,
Cannonball Adderley's Sharpshooters
were a very potent jazz band in the late 1950s, one that could literally swing the daylight outs of any situation and stand tall with their peer group. With pianist
Junior Mance
, bassist
Sam Jones
, and drummer
Jimmy Cobb
,
Cannonball
and brother
Nat Adderley
were young and well-respected enough to lay claim to this quintet as a top five band along with any mainstream jazz groupings of the day. With quintessential small group players in the rhythm section, the
Adderleys
really have the best band anyone could hope for in a soul-jazz context, but also for hard bop. Tracks like
Tadd Dameron
's
"Our Delight,"
the fast
"Stay on It,"
and the standard
"If I Love Again"
are all superlative examples of rough-and-ready post-
Charlie Parker
music, especially the latter song where the horns delve into some fascinating interplay. ~ Michael G.Nastos