Jim Snidero & Jeremy Pelt: Jubilation!: Celebrating Cannonball Adderley

      Because there is so much music out there, even serious jazz fans need to be reminded from time to time of important music from the past. One of the best ways is to settle down with a tribute record featuring songs played or written by a significant figure in the music. That’s precisely the intent of Jubilation!: Celebrating Cannonball Adderley, new from Jim Snidero & Jeremy Pelt, cooperating at the helm of a dynamite quintet, with David Hazeltine at the piano, Nat Reeves on bass, and Billy Drummond in the drum chair. Now there’s barely a way for this new disc to make anything close to the impact that Cannonball had when he first appeared in New York in 1955, sitting in with the Oscar Pettiford group at the Café Bohemia. Too much in jazz and in the world has changed in the 63 years since that debut, and Snidero and Pelt surely know that all too well. Still, they bring a heap of soulful energy to the enterprise, playing tunes performed by various Adderley groups as well as two new songs that demonstrate Cannonball’s continuing influence. Pelt’s Party Time leads off with a bang, tapping right into the gritty dance feeling that permeates Adderley’s many recordings. Near the end of the set, Snidero’s Ball’s 90th is a bluesy celebration of Cannonballs’ life and legacy. The rest of the program is a well-chosen selection of songs associated with Cannonball and his brother, cornetist Nat Adderley. Cannonball’s signature tune, Stars Fell on Alabama, makes an appearance featuring a fiery Snidero, as does Nat’s famous composition Work Song, which closes the disc with a good-natured romp, complete with a drum solo introduction by Drummond and a sparkling piano solo by Hazeltine. Each of the principals comes by their love for this music naturally. Snidero studied with another alto master, Phil Woods, who he says “lit the fire,” noting that “Cannonball, along with Bird and Sonny Stitt, showed me the way on the horn within straight-ahead jazz.” For his part, Pelt, who started listening to Cannonball as a teenager, got a first-hand education in the Adderley sound when he played for nearly two decades with Louis Hayes, drummer in the Adderley band from 1959 to 1965. The best homages send you back to the original versions for comparison purposes, and that’s what Jubilation! accomplishes with its modern renditions of time-honored work. Warmly recommended.
Savant SCD 2167; Jeremy Pelt (tp) Jim Snidero (as) David Hazeltine (p) Nat Reeves (b) Billy Drummond (d); Saylorsburg, PA, December 12, 2017; Party Time/ Del Sasser/ Wabash/ Saudade/ Stars Fell on Alabama/ Sack o’ Woe/ Ball’s 90th/ Work Song; 53:21. www.jazzdepot.com