Billboard : 12/10/1955

The Cannonball Express slows down a little on his first EmArcy release. There are some high spots here, provided in the newcomer’s alto work, and in his brother Nat’s cornet work. But there are some bad lapses also which indicate the man is unaccustomed to the fast company he’s favored with here. The drive and the talent of both Adderleys are obvious, however, and they are among the most promising new jazz stars. Curiosity will help sell this.

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Cashbox : 12/03/1955

With the explosive name, “Cannonball”, to pave the way, a new talent on EmArcy makes his bow. Julian Adderley introduces himself via a very imposing alto sax demonstration. Adderley, though still building, is ready to make his mark in the modern jazz field, and this album, giving an ample display of his talents, will help establish him with the jazz clientele. Among the sidemen with Julian is brother Nat, who alo makes his record debut with an ok trumpet job.

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High Fidelity
John S. Wilson : January, 1956

Cannonball is the latest meteor to flash onto the jazz scene. He is a saxophonist of great potential who, currently, can catch the ear by his sheer flamboyance even while occasionally offending it with his grating tone. He is far from consistent in this matter of tone — hard without being harsh at fast tempos, relatively rich at slow tempos, while at moderate speeds he varies between a shrill squawk and a warm, melodious sound. He is extremely fluent and facile without showing particular inventiveness. On this disk, his performances vary so from band to band — from excellent to irritating — that it is almost impossible to determine which, if any, of the sides he exhibits is the one which comes most naturally to him. His brother, Nat, who plays a sometimes uncertain trumpet, has a generally more attractive style when all is going well. The brothers are backed by an excellent group of modern jazzmen but only the pianist John Williams is given solo space of consequence. He fills it with the most polished playing on the disk.

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Down Beat : 12/14/1955
Nat Hentoff : 3 stars

Cannonball, as this album and this 27-year-old altoist are called, is backed on his first LP for EmArcy by Nat Adderley, Jerome Richardson, Cecil Payne, Jimmy Cleveland (4), J. J. Johnson (6), John Williams, Kenny Clarke (7), Max Roach (3), and Paul Chambers. All the arrangements were by Quincy Jones. There are several things wrong with this set. Cannonball himself has drive, emotional directness, and a good beat. But his conception tends too often to become feverish, and that lack of discipline over his imagination leads to solos that are jagged and rarely effective as wholes. He does have some very good moments, but he needs more regular playing experience with first-rate jazzmen in order to develop into a major soloist, which he is not at present. When he goes on the road in February, I hope he takes some veterans with him. His tone also presents problems. It has too much of an edge on it, veering at times into dubious intonation.

Julian’s brother, Nat, has shown on previous LPs that he has much the same assets and liabilities outlined above in the case of his brother. Nat’s tone is better though and in fact, he plays more consistently here than he has on record before. (Nat plays cornet, by the way, not trumpet as the notes and label say.) Another thing wrong with the LP is that almost no solo space is given to the excellent sidemen present. Johnny Williams is heard briefly and very effectively in several numbers, and there are snatches of Richardson, Cleveland and Payne, but it’s almost all Cannonball and his brother.

Best original is Quincy Jones’ Fallen Feathers, inspired by Bird’s solo on Parker’s Mood.

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Liner Notes by Leonard Feather

New stars are a dime a dozen in jazz nowadays. Every sixteen bars or so, somebody comes along who is hailed as the next this or the coming that, and in no more time than it takes to sign his name to a record contract, presto! he is the star of his own LP.

New stars of the caliber of Cannonball, however, are by no means a dime a dozen. This much was obvious almost from the moment he got off the train from Florida. Before we go any further it might be as well to explain that Cannonball’s nickname has no bearing, except perhaps a coincidental one, on the dynamic manner in which he projects his musical thoughts through his alto saxophone. The name derived originally from “cannibal,” an honorific title imposed on him by high school colleagues as a tribute to his vast eating capacity. (When you see Cannonball you will observe that his appetite clearly has not diminished).

As far as his family is concerned Cannonball is Julian Adderley, born September 15, 1928 in Tampa, Florida. Studying music at high school and college in Tallahassee from 1940 to 48, he became proficient on trumpet, later on alto, clarinet, tenor and flute.

Everybody in the Adderley family is musically inclined. Julian and his brother Nat, who plays trumpet on these sides, enjoyed a period of juvenile glory as boy sopranos. Their father, a jazz cornetist, and an old college roommate of his by the name of Kirksey who became a band director in Florida, were the major influences on the younger Adderleys. Julian himself became band director at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale in 1948. He has remained there almost continuously, with time out for a period in the service and for further studies of reed instruments at the U.S. Naval School of Music in Washington in 1952. As side ventures during his tenure at Dillard, he has had his own group off and on since 1948. While in the Army in 1952 to ’53 he led both a large dance band and a small combo.

In the summer of 1955 Cannonball came to New York. On the night after his arrival he and Nat visited the Café Bohemia in Greenwich Village, where Oscar Pettiford was leading a small group in which the tenor player was Jerome Richardson, whom you will hear on these sides with Cannonball. Richardson happened to show up late that night, so Pettiford, who knew little about Cannonball and was not too anxious to take a chance, grudgingly allowed him to sit in. Pettiford whipped the band into I’ll Remember April at a racehorse pace, fully expecting to chase an embarrassed Cannonball off the bandstand. Cannonball, of course, sailed through a long solo with an equanimity that astonished everybody. As you might expect, he remained on the stand as a welcome guest for the rest of the night.

Within a few days word about Cannonball had spread around town. On the recommendation of Quincy Jones and Clark Terry, Bob Shad of EmArcy took the unprecedented step of signing Cannonball to an exclusive contract without ever having heard him play.

The performances on these sides, for which Quincy wrote the arrangements, took place at three sessions held in New York City. At the first date, on July 21, 1955, the personnel included Cannonball on alto, his brother Nat Adderley on trumpet, Jerome Richardson on tenor, Cecil Payne on baritone. Jimmy Cleveland on trombone, John Williams on piano, Kenny Clarke on drums and Paul Chambers on bass. At this session the numbers recorded were The Song is You, Cynthia’s in Love, Hurricane Connie, and an old pop song called Purple Shades.

At the second date, held July 29, the same personnel was used except that J. J. Johnson replaced Cleveland. The tunes cut were Cannonball, written by Julian; Nat’s Everglades; and You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To. On the third session, recorded August 5, a second personnel change was made: Max Roach replaced Clarke, J.J. was still on trombone and the rest of the men were the same. This date produced Willows, an old standard tune; Fallen Feathers, a Quincy Jones original inspired by a famous Charlie Parker solo; and Rose Room.

I believe that in the course of listening to these ten performances you will derive a clear picture of the magnitude and flexibility of Cannonball’s talent. On a casual first hearing, particularly if you happen to listen to one of the faster tunes, you may get the impression that he sounds like Charlie Parker. Up to a point you would be right; but if you were to claim that a new ball player hit the way Jackie Robinson used to, or that a new speaker you heard at a banquet reminded you of the way F.D.R. spoke English, would any derogation, any implication of lack of originality be implied? Is there any better way of doing any job than the best way? Cannonball sounds like Parker only to the same extent that any two other artists in any other field might similarly be compared. Like F.D.R. and the speaker at the banquet, you could say that Parker and Cannonball both spoke the same language.

Cannonball’s favorite alto men are Charlie Parker and Benny Carter. That the peerless Benny made an impression on him that is still reflected in his work can be heard by close study of the several slow tempo numbers in this set. It would be hard to select any one item as a complete demonstration of Cannonball’s talent, but my personal choice would be the number that bears his name as its title—on which, by the way, Nat also delivers what is probably his most impressive solo in the entire set.

With occasional notable exceptions such as the late Fats Navarro, Florida has not made a large conribution to jazz history. This gap in our culture may be said to have been filled substantially by the arrival of Cannonball; and after hearing these sides there can’t be much doubt in anybody’s mind that he has indeed arrived. I wonder whether those young students at Dillard High know just how lucky they are.