Saxophonist Cannonball Adderley Rare 1966 Concerts Going Digital

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — A rare collection of previously unissued recordings by legendary jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley is becoming more accessible thanks to two small jazz labels seeking to keep jazz history alive.
Vancouver, Canada-based Cellar Music Group's imprint Reel to Real and New York distributor la reserve records are scheduled Friday to release a digital version of Adderley performing at Seattle's Penthouse jazz club.
"Cannonball Adderley's Swingin' in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse" features the jazz great's quintet captured live on radio in 1966 and 1967 over four performances. For decades, the recordings sat largely unheard in archives until Canadian saxophonist and Cellar Music Group founder Cory Weeds found out about them.
Weeds told The Associated Press this week that producers wanted the public to hear the performances and sought to include as much of the recording as possible since it showed Adderley's essence at the height of his career.

Born in Tampa, Florida, in 1928, Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley earned the name Cannonball from his high school nickname "cannibal," which allegedly described his appetite. He moved to New York City in 1955, where he joined the hard bop jazz movement — a subgenre of bebop that incorporated rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues.
Miles Davis spotted Adderley and hired him to play on groundbreaking Davis albums "Milestones" and "Kind of Blue."
Adderley would have a successful career and gained crossover success with his 1958 "Somethin' Else" album and his 1966 "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at 'The Club.'"
He died in 1975.