Why this tune album?
Today, September 15, is the birthday of the great Cannonball Adderley, who released one of my favorite albums, his collaboration with Nancy Wilson I mentioned in a story in February Also this week: Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, starts on Friday night, September 18. I found a way to celebrate both of these today with a look at a whole album, Cannonball’s 1964 recording Fiddler On The Roof, where he and a superb sextet play selections from this famous musical based on Sholom Aleichem’s Yiddish language stories of Jewish life in Eastern Europe (where my ancestors came from).
Dig this detail!
This is not a novelty record – Scott Yanow describes it as “the finest album by this particular sextet.” I particularly like Joe Zawinul’s piano playing on the swinging version of “To Life.” The album also includes four non-Fiddler tracks, including a burning version of “Sweet Georgia Bright.”
Shana Tova / שנה טובה – best wishes for a happy, healthy, safe, and sane new year.
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“To Life”
“Sweet Georgia Bright”
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 