A Child’s Introduction To Jazz – 1961
Cannonball Adderley
A fascinating and still-relevant history of jazz recording
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Back in 1961 altoist Cannonball Adderley was part of a rewarding project, an album titled A Child’s Introduction To Jazz.
Throughout his life, Adderley was always one of the most skilled among jazz musicians in communicating to the audience, not only through his music but in his explanations of what he was going to play; he simply enjoyed talking to people and had the intelligence and knowledge (along with a natural hipness) to be able to relate to his audience and vice versa.
The 1961 album A Child’s Introduction To Jazz has been out of print for many years, but despite the age of this 60-year recording, Adderley’s talk about jazz is still relevant and topical.
He introduces the listeners to many types of jazz from 1917-61 along with blues and ragtime, playing excerpts from a wide variety of classic artists and intelligently discussing the history of the music.
Despite its title, A Child’s Introduction To Jazz can teach today’s adults a lot about early jazz.
-Scott Yanow
Ella Fitzgerald