"LOVERS"

Produced by Julian and Nat Adderley and Orrin Keepnews
Recording engineer-Jim Stern
(Fantasy Studios, Berkeley ; June 24 and 25, 1975.)

Late in June of 1975 Cannonball began an album designed to combine some old friends and some new ones. Specifically, old meant his brother and constant colleague Nat, two frequent members of his recording-studio rhythm sections- George Duke and Airto Moreira; and Alvin Batiste, a close friend he had only very rarely been able to entice away from his teaching career in Louisiana. New included Jack Dejohnette and Alphonso Johnson, both of whom Cannon greatly admired but had never previously worked with.

In two days we completed most of the project. Everything went incredibly smoothly, and there was even an unexpected bonus: the remarkable Brazilian composer/ arranger/instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal, who had accompanied his friend Airto from Los Angeles to our Berkeley studios, listened quietly to the first day's work and then showed up the next day with a tune composed overnight for this group!

As part of the overall concept, some selections feature one artist: thus Batiste is the only soloist on Dejohnette's "New Orleans Strut"; and Duke's "Children of Time" is played only by Nat accompanied by George and Airto. The other three June numbers do include solo work by Cannon-specifically , his blowing on Pascoal's "Nascente" is his last recorded effort

The album was to have been finished later in the summer, but there was no later for Cannonball. Some six weeks later, he was dead of a stroke. Nat and I decided to complete the project in a way that could serve as a final tribute. The composition "Lovers" had already been written for the album by Juilian's nephew , Nat Adderley Jr. It was recorded in an extended version that eventually included all the others who had played on the Junes dates, plus three special guests with special love for Cannon: young Nat; Ron Carter; and Flora Purim , singing lyrics adapted from a section of the New Testament book of Revelation

Orrin Keepnews

Front cover medallion courtesy of Living Legends;
sculpted by Karen Worth; designed by
Oscar Harris; and photographed by Alastair Finlay.
Back cover photo by Bruce Talamon (courtesy of Swing Journal/Japan).