What an unmitigated triumph Somethin’ Else was for all involved. And what a cast it is: There’s Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley, of course. (Adderley had left his own group in 1957 to join Miles.)
But there’s more: Oh-so-cool, oh-so-old school pianist Hank Jones, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Art Blakey, associated with the the then-new school of hard hop. Hard bop and MILES? Fertile, indeed.
No one disappoints … least of all Miles Davis — who was, after all, involved with Charlie Parker (certainly a “hot” player) on what I think of as some of Bird’s best work. Blakey, turns out, is tasteful and understated throughout. They all can be: Pay special attention to the Latin undertones from all three soloists in “Love for Sale.”
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of heart — in fact, at times a little more than their more famous collaboration a year later — 1959’s Kind of Blue.
The title track from Somethin’ Else can be well-regarded as Adderley and Davis’ most sympathetic pairing (since to my mind John Coltrane so dominates in response on Kind of Blue). Miles murmurs his solo phases … each simple, short, brilliant — all bolstered and fleshed out with the fat and easy echoing of Cannonball.
Love Jones’ piano work there, too — a nod to Bill Evans in that block chord style. Jones, of course, was no novice. “That delicate touch of Hank’s,” Miles Davis told Leonard Feather, “there’s so few that can get it. Bill Evans and Shearing and Teddy Wilson have it. Art Tatum had it.”
Cannonball Adderley closes out Somethin’ Else with a showcase on “Dancing in the Dark,” at Miles’ insistence — but by then I’ve almost become certain that this is the lesser-known, but very worthy, companion piece to Kind of Blue that every Miles fan should have.
See, Somethin’ Else actually IS kind of blue — if only because Adderley breathes so much soul into any side.
Scratch that every-Miles-fan comment. Make it: Somethin’ Else is the lesser-known, but very worthy, companion piece to Kind of Blue that every JAZZ fan should have.
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