Adderley is remembered for his 1966 single "Mercy Mercy Mercy", a crossover hit on the pop charts, and for his work with trumpeter Miles Davis, including on the epochal album Kind of Blue (1959). He was the brother of jazz cornetist Nat Adderley, a longtime member of his band.
The name 'Canonball' is supposed to have originated from his being nicknamed 'cannibal' in his youth, on account of his prodigious eating
Early life and career
Originally from Tampa, Florida, Adderley moved to New York in the mid-1950s. His nickname derived originally from "cannibal", a title imposed on him by high school colleagues as a tribute to his voracious appetite.
His educational career was long established prior to teaching applied instrumental music classes at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Cannonball moved to Tallahassee, Florida when his parents obtained teaching positions at Florida A&M University. Both Cannonball and brother Nat played with Ray Charles when Charles lived in Tallahassee during the early 1940s. Cannonball was a local legend in Florida until he moved to New York City in 1955, where he lived in Corona, Queens.
It was in New York during this time that Adderley's prolific career began. Adderley visited the Cafe Bohemia, where Oscar Pettiford's group was playing that night. Adderley had brought his saxophone into the club with him, primarily because he feared that it would be stolen, and he was asked to sit in as the saxophone player was late. That performance established his reputation.
Prior to joining Miles Davis' band, Adderley formed his own group with his brother Nat after signing onto the Savoy jazz label in 1957. He was noticed by Miles Davis, and it was because of his blues-rooted alto saxophone that Davis asked him to play with his group.
Adderley joined the Miles Davis Sextet in October 1957, three months prior to John Coltrane's return to the group. Adderley played on the seminal Davis records Milestones and Kind of Blue. This period also overlapped with pianist Bill Evans' time with the sextet, an association that led to recording Portrait of Cannonball and Know What I Mean?.
His interest as an educator carried over to his recordings. In 1961, Cannonball narrated The Child's Introduction to Jazz, released on Riverside Records.
Band leader
The Cannonball Adderley Quintet featured Cannonball on alto sax and his brother Nat Adderley on cornet. Cannonball's first quintet was not very successful; however, after leaving Davis' group, he formed another, again with his brother, which enjoyed more success.
Later life
By the end of the 1960s, Adderley's playing began to reflect the influence of the electric jazz, avant-garde, and Davis' experiments on the album Bitches Brew. On his albums from this period, such as Accent on Africa (1968) and The Price You Got to Pay to Be Free (1970), he began doubling on soprano saxophone, showing the influence of Coltrane and Wayne Shorter. In that same year, his quintet appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, and a brief scene of that performance was featured in the 1971 psychological thriller Play Misty for Me, starring Clint Eastwood. In 1975 he also appeared (in an acting role alongside Jose Feliciano and David Carradine) in the episode "Battle Hymn" in the third season of the TV series Kung Fu.
Joe Zawinul's composition "Cannon Ball" (recorded on Weather Report's album Black Market) is a tribute to his former leader. Pepper Adams and George Mraz dedicated the composition "Julian" on the 1975 Pepper Adams album (also called "Julian") days after Cannonball's death.
Songs made famous by Adderley and his bands include "This Here" (written by Bobby Timmons), "The Jive Samba", "Work Song" (written by Nat Adderley), "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (written by Joe Zawinul) and "Walk Tall" (written by Zawinul, Marrow and Rein). A cover version of Pops Staples' "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)?" also entered the charts.
Adderley was initiated as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity (Gamma Theta chapter, University of North Texas, '60, & Xi Omega chapter, Frostburg State University, '70) and Alpha Phi Alpha (Beta Nu chapter, Florida A&M University).
Adderley died of a stroke in 1975. He was buried in the Southside Cemetery, Tallahassee, Florida. Later that year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.
Desafinado
Cannonball Adderley Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Saiba que isso em mim provoca imensa dor
Só privilegiados têm ouvido igual ao seu
Eu possuo apenas o que Deus me deu
Se você insisted em classificar
meu comportamento de antimusical
Eu mesmo mentindo Devo argumentar
Que isto é bossa nova Que isto é muito natural
O que você não sabe nem sequer pressente
é que os desafinados também têm um coração
Fotografei você na minha Rolleyflex
Revelou-se a sua enorme ingratidão
Só não poderá falar assim do meu amor
Este é o maior que você pode encontrar
Você com a sua música esqueceu o principal
é que no peito dos desafinados
No fundo do peito bate calado
Que no peito dos desafinados
também bate um coração
Desafinado is a beautiful Bossa Nova song by Cannonball Adderley, with lyrics by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Newton Mendonça. The song is sung from the point of view of a desafinado, someone who is out of tune or off-key. The song immediately sets the tone by stating “If you say I'm off tune, love / Know that this causes me immense pain / Only the privileged have ears like yours / I only have what God gave me” showing the sensitivity of the subject matter. The perspective then shifts to the classification of the singer’s antimusical behavior, to which they respond by affirming that this is just Bossa Nova, an almost innate musical style of Brazil. The song goes on to say that the un-tuned, the desafinados have a heart too, and that love is not exclusive to those who are blessed with perfect pitch. Along with its Brazilian rhythms and its poetic lyrics, the song has a melancholic quality and ends by reflecting that despite the insensitivity displayed by others, the un-tuned have a deep-seated understanding of life and love.
Line by Line Meaning
Se você disser que eu desafino, amor
If you tell me that I sing off-key, my love
Saiba que isso em mim provoca imensa dor
Know that it causes immense pain within me
Só privilegiados têm ouvido igual ao seu
Only privileged ones have an ear like yours
Eu possuo apenas o que Deus me deu
I only possess what God gave me
Se você insisted em classificar
If you insist on classifying
meu comportamento de antimusical
My behavior as anti-musical
Eu mesmo mentindo Devo argumentar
Even if I have to lie to myself, I must argue
Que isto é bossa nova Que isto é muito natural
That this is bossa nova, that this is very natural
O que você não sabe nem sequer pressente
What you don't know or even sense
é que os desafinados também têm um coração
Is that off-key people also have a heart
Fotografei você na minha Rolleyflex
I photographed you with my Rolleiflex
Revelou-se a sua enorme ingratidão
Your enormous ingratitude was revealed
Só não poderá falar assim do meu amor
You can't speak about my love like that
Este é o maior que você pode encontrar
This is the greatest that you can find
Você com a sua música esqueceu o principal
You, with your music, forgot the main thing
é que no peito dos desafinados
That in the chest of off-key people
No fundo do peito bate calado
Silently, deep within beats
Que no peito dos desafinados
That in the chest of off-key people
também bate um coração
There also beats a heart
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CORCOVADO MUSIC CORPORATION
Written by: ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM, NEWTON MENDONCA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind