In A Mellow Tone
Wednesday August 9th, 2023 with Noah Snieckus & Heavy Ben
Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans / the Oscar Peterson Trio
Welcome Noah Snieckus to CKCU! Noah's "Between The Lines" segment debuts on In A Mellow Tone with Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans' 1962 album "Know What I Mean?".
Heavy Ben follows suit with a 1962 album from the Oscar Peterson Trio.
Noah Mean?
Noah Snieckus is a new host of ‘Between the Lines’, a monthly segment within CKCU’s “In a Mellow Tone” program, with a focus on Bebop, Bop and Post-Bop (ie. the Golden Period of Jazz and its influence through the ages into more modern settings). The idea of this segment is to approach each record with the rhyme and rhetoric of liner notes, the words printed on the back of many LPs. A journalistic format made popular by Jazz critics on the scene, the covers would often detail musicians in their creative, and personal, processes towards bringing the work to life. Each month you can tune, and delve, into the stories and subtexts behind the songs: information about the men and women in this seminal period in Jazz history, their muses and, of course, their music.
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| Hour One
Tonight, we’re kicking it off with Know What I Mean from Cannonball Adderley, a giant in the Jazz world and an altoist that shone through the pantheon of sax players with a unique and explosive style (an identifier one might think earned him the Cannonball moniker. It instead came in the form of an ill-pronounced childhood nickname). The record was first released in 1962 through Riverside label, a company closely associated with both artists, publishing works of Adderley’s all the way to 1975 (Autumn Leaves), the year of his untimely death, and even posthumous works of Evans’ as recent as 2005 (The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings). A 10 track co-product of Cannonball, born Julian Adderly, and Bill Evans, an equal in the league of Jazz luminaries as a Pianist with both deftness in his touch and depth in his play, there were bound to be distinct voices in conversation throughout. But during this discussion, of which music is undeniably both party’s best form of communication, there is never clash, nor the sense of competition in the air of the recording. The opening song, ‘Waltz for Debby, now a standard widely regarded as a Classic, creates a soundscape in its storyboard sequencing. For the first minute, Evans emotes in a solo performance that flickers and folds in on itself in a masterful fashion. All chordal descensions, in their painstaking passion, are met with equal relief. All madness with measure. Soon, when Adderley enters with his rich reed, the warmth exuded, besides providing a voiceless croon and compliment, expands on the song’s foundation in a way that feels both muscular and moderate. Never imposing nor timid. I chose to elaborate on this song, especially, as I feel it is a fine example of the pairs’ co-production. The two sit, as they should, at the forefront — the bass (of Percy Heath) and percussion (of Connie Kay) chugging steadily throughout — and flex their musical forté in turn. There is a rhyme to their discussion, and a reciprocal respect between the two. |
| Waltz For Debby Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans - Know What I Mean? - Riverside - 1962 |
| Goodbye Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans - Know What I Mean? - Riverside - 1962 |
| Who Cares? Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans - Know What I Mean? - Riverside - 1962 |
| Venice Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans - Know What I Mean? - Riverside - 1962 |
| From a personal take, I find that more notable moments in this record exist in minor undulations of bops largely contained on Side B: the warbling drumroll of title track ‘Know What I Mean’ as a refrain; the flaunt and flutter of Adderly’s sax at 1 minute 40 on ‘Nancy (With the Laughing Face)’; particular runs Evans makes during ‘Elsa’ that strike me as intellectual rhythmically. A melodic percussion beyond the percussion already in the mix. There is both simplicity and chaos about the track ‘Toy’, the latter of which I am deeply fond of in straying from the simplicity that critics have used to undermine the gravity of this record.
In fact, a recommended search when looking into Cannonball on the web is ‘Why is Cannonball Adderley important?’ To which the answer they provide is that “Adderley's straightforward approach helped keep jazz popular with mainstream audiences.” But, even when pared down to solo runs or bare-bone rhythm, there is a sensibility that would only speak highly of the mainstream if it were to grasp at it. There certainly isn’t the sense that the pair are settling to please the masses. As flagged in the record’s liner notes, this LP was a sort of departure from the fundamentalist approach Adderley had taken previously, a work that “he might well have not dared attempt in the past”. A complex character, through Know What I Mean, we can better understand what exactly it is that he wishes us to get. But then again, proficiency in Jazz isn’t always something that can be given qualification. As he — Cannonball Addereley — said himself, "Understanding is the least important thing when it comes to digging jazz because, like anything else, jazz is a form of entertainment. It is created to be enjoyed, not understood like you read a blueprint." For now, we can all sit in appreciation of the touch and temperament of Adderely and Evans’s 1962 record Know What I Mean. |
| Toy Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans - Know What I Mean? - Riverside - 1962 |
| Elsa Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans - Know What I Mean? - Riverside - 1962 |
| Nancy (With The Laughing Face) Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans - Know What I Mean? - Riverside - 1962 |
| Know What I Mean? Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans - Know What I Mean? - Riverside - 1962 |
| Peri's Scope Bill Evans Trio - Portrait In Jazz - Riverside - 1960 |
| Hour two |
| Ballad To The East Oscar Peterson Trio - Canadiana Suite - Limelight, Mercury - 1965 
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| Chicago’s London House was a sophisticated supper club in the center of Chicago’s Loop, on the corner of Wacker Boulevard and Michigan Avenue (it disappeared in 1973). According to Oscar Peterson it had “European trappings, chandeliers and the like. When I first started playing there, it also had one of the noisiest audiences in the world. We used to play the London House for two weeks or better, and we had a little apartment hotel near there and we had a chance to do a lot of rehearsing. We used to hold rehearsals after the club closed at night. The last weekend set was very late. We’d finish at 3:15 or 3:30 and we’d wait for everybody to clear out, then we’d have rehearsal until around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning, until we were tired”. Owned by the brothers George Oscar Marienthal, the legendary Oscar Peterson Trio recorded almost ten-hours of music there between July 11 and August 6, 1961. The Sound of the Trio (Verve V6-8480) was the second of four LPs culled from those dates. The trio’s Londo House repertory is vast and showcases the group’s extraordinary versatility, performing songs ranging from traditional tunes to classic standards and show tunes. More impressive still, the variety of moods and colors present throughout these live recordings is a testimony to the trio’s wide range of experience and complete mastery of technique and feel at all tempos. Peterson’s explosive pyrotechnics, indomitable swing feel and perennial elegance are perfectly complemented by the incomparable bass and drums tandem of Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen. The delightful arrangements showcase the talents of each musician, and provide a framework for the band’s true strength as a cohesive unit of musical masters who share a chemistry that often borders on the supernatural.
Bass – Ray Brown Drums – Ed Thigpen Piano – Oscar Peterson |
| Tricrotism Oscar Peterson Trio - The Sound Of The Trio - Verve - 1962
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| On Green Dolphin Street Oscar Peterson Trio - The Sound Of The Trio - Verve - 1962
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| Thag's Dance Oscar Peterson Trio - The Sound Of The Trio - Verve - 1962
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| Ill Wind Oscar Peterson Trio - The Sound Of The Trio - Verve - 1962
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| Kadota's Blues Oscar Peterson Trio - The Sound Of The Trio - Verve - 1962
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| The original 1962 LP had 5 tracks. These final two cuts are from the 2000 CD edition that expanded the album to 10 tracks. |
| Band Call Oscar Peterson Trio - The Sound Of The Trio - Verve - 1962
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| The Night We Called It A Day Oscar Peterson Trio - The Sound Of The Trio - Verve - 1962
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Great show! The format seems similar to the Sunday jazz show. I like the focus on two records!
2:41 PM, August 7th, 2023