"MUSIC, YOU ALL"

Writing about Julian "Cannonball" Adderley should be one of the simplest of tasks. There have been countless articles, countless reviews, dozens of liners on various records albums from wich to draw, and yet , it is difficult. Difficult because not only was he someone with whom I was closely associated in a varierty of different projects for ever a decade , but he was also my closest friend , my brother.

The lines of our ralationship were clearly drawn at first. I was notified by then head of the production (A&R) depertement that Cannon had request me to work as his producer when he signed with Capitol. However , as we became closer friends our relationship also strarted to change in our methods of work.

Our collaboration got tighter on his LP's and he started to get more and more involved in the albus that I was writing for myself as an artist. In the last five years, our roles within this relationship became more interwined. He became heavely involved in the production of my albums and I found myself getting more involved in some of the writting and arranging of his and brother Nat's. I include this information in these notes so that those who take the time to read "liner notes" will have some understanding regarding our occupation with each over.

Cannon's music is all encompassing. He could sit and listen to Earth Wind & Fire with the same intensity with witch he would listen to Chick Corea. I would drop by this home discuss something and find him totally engrossed in a piece by Prokofiev. He was very fond of a group called Traffic and wrote a tune that is on a LP of Nat's called "Traffic".I believe that in this album you will hera a great deal of this versatility.

the distorded guitar sound of Mike Deasy combines beautifully with the musical thoughts of Cannon, Nat, George Duke, Walter Booker and Roy Mac Curdy, which was the make-up of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet at the time of this recording. A frequent guest artist who worked with Cannonball on in innumerable occasions is the most innovative percussionist today, Airto Moreira. Another guest on this record is the great saxophonist Ernie Watts , also a friend, who not only played on this session but collaborated with Julian on the piece , "Music , You All" .

Let me state now that these are not reissue or pickup tracks. The "Walk Tall " composition of Joe Zawinul is unlike any other version that people may be familiar with, due to the completely free and open feeling that the players had while working before a live audience at the Troubadour Nightclub in Los Angeles. And as I mentioned previously, Mike Deasy's contribution on the guitar put eveything that he played on with the group into another dimension. Amore extant one, if you will.

Nat's singing of " Ho Babe" , o his particular night has got to be one of the highlights of any Cannonball Adderley Quintet album. It's totally " down" , but it's also beautiful.

For me, it is in the "raps" , that you will hear Julian Cannonball Adderley . Not just for his eloquence, or glibness, but for his innermost feelings on what the "music" meant to him. I think that he spoke for all of us who call ourselves "musicians" and just maybe for anyone in the music business who realizes that phrase is made up of two words. His comments on time seem now, when listening to them, as if he had a forewarning of the short length left to him of this most precious of all our commodities.

Anyway , just listen and dig what he , his brother , and their fellow players are doing for you on this album , because is what it's all about.

" Check it out..... check it. See ya ,-hear?"

David Axelrod