Cannonball Adderley

The Insane Project continues apace. Almost to the end of B, which means I am over 10% through. So many wonderful entries in the B's... but no spoilers today.

I got stuck on Cannonball Adderley because I thought I had little intelligent to say about him. Still don't, really. Blue Note jazz is one of those genres I always liked but never really delved into until the current tech. So I'm still wallowing in it all incoherently and loving it.

Adderley is a lot of fun without being campy, which is a blessing. As Wesley Willis might say, his bop is excellent. In fact, I just wrote a song about Cannonball Adderley using the Wesley Willis Song Generator (note, if you follow the link, the song generator is at the bottom of the page):

Cannonball Adderley
by Wesley Willis

You are the bop king.
You are the bop king.
Cannonball Adderley is excellent.
You really whoop the horse's ass.

CANNONBALL ADDERLEY!!!
CANNONBALL ADDERLEY!!!
CANNONBALL ADDERLEY!!!
CANNONBALL ADDERLEY!!!

Cannonball Adderley really whoops a donkey's ass.
You make the joyride music.
Right on brother.
Cannonball Adderley really whoops a camel's ass.

CANNONBALL ADDERLEY!!!
CANNONBALL ADDERLEY!!!
CANNONBALL ADDERLEY!!!
CANNONBALL ADDERLEY!!!

Cannonball Adderley is the best.
You can really rock it out.
I like you well.
Cannonball Adderley is the best.

Rock over London,
Rock on Chicago.

Wheaties - breakfast of champions.

But I finally figured out what it is about Cannonball Adderley that keeps me from unreserved immersion and thus having a strong opinion of him. Like a lot of jazz musicians, he is a college professor. So there's always this academic quality to his music. His awareness of all the music that came before him is stunning, but often I'm unable to let go of thinking about how he's teaching music history and just get down.

But that does not change the fact that his bop is excellent and that Cannonball Adderley is best in the long run.