The Best of Cannonball Adderley: The Capitol Years in Bloomington, MN

Thanks to its ownership of some of
Cannonball Adderley
's
Riverside
recordings,
Capitol
was able to stretch the definition of
Best of Cannonball Adderley: The Capitol Years
a bit in this hits collection. Beginning with a pair of live
tracks from
Adderley
's short-lived sextet with
Yusef Lateef
(
"Work Song,"
"Jive Samba"
), the CD enters the
years proper with the surprisingly effective treatment of
"Fiddler on the Roof,"
continues with three hits centered around
Joe Zawinul
soul
/
gospel
electric piano (
"Mercy Mercy Mercy,"
"Why Am I Treated So Bad?,"
and
"Walk Tall"
), the tension-wracked
"74 Miles Away,"
and the relaxed
"Country Preacher."
There are missing ingredients, like the
orchestral
recordings, the excursions into electric music in the early '70s. Yet from the evidence of this strong lineup -- almost all of it recorded live, and often prefaced by
's ingratiating spoken intros -- it would be very hard to argue (as some have) that his
period was one long commercial sellout. ~ Richard S. Ginell