Nat Adderley

Brassman Nat Adderley was born in Tampa, Florida in 1931, he first learned the trumpet from his older brother Julian, (better known as Cannonball) who decided to switch to saxophone. They became the most renown brothers in the history of jazz, recording numerous classic records with the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. Nat's composing played a huge role in the success of this group, as he penned the instrumental hits "Jive Samba", "The Work Song", "Hummin'," and many other tunes that became part of the standard jazz repertory.

Nat recorded albums as a leader of his own combo and toured the U.S. and abroad until his passing in 1999. His son, Nat Jr., carried on the musical tradition with his keyboard and production work with artists such as Luther Vandross and Aretha Franklin.

Interviewing Nat Adderley was especially significant for me. Although I was first attracted to jazz saxophone by the sound of Paul Desmond, it was Cannonball Adderley that truly grabbed me. To me he was, and still is the man.

Cannonball had a killer group for many years and it was the 60's ensemble with Nat, Joe Zawinul, Walter Booker and Roy McCurdy who were playing what I wanted to hear. Nat was the perfect foil for his brother and his cornet could be funny, funky and swinging depending on his mood. He was greatly responsible, along with Joe Zawinul, for the tunes that made this band a major jazz attraction.

One For Nat was my attempt at approaching the style that the Adderleys were fond of, really a combination of styles encompassing swing & soul. It is basically an A-A-B-A song, a blues with a bridge that moves from swing to funk and back again. It was interesting having Jerome play on this tune. It was Jerome who was late for a New York City gig in 1955 with Oscar Pettiford, thus allowing young Julian "Cannonball" Adderly to sit in. A week later Cannon had a record deal.