Cannonball Adderley – Beginnings (E/VG+) – 2xLP, AU 1976

Beginnings is an LP by Cannonball Adderley from 1976 released on the Mercury label.

About this album

Beginnings distils Cannonball Adderley’s hard bop bite and soul-jazz warmth into a concise survey of his classic years. Issued in 1976, the compilation draws on the period when Adderley moved from a formidable sideman into one of jazz’s most distinctive bandleaders, pairing muscle, lyricism and blues feeling with an easy, swinging confidence. Across selections such as “Cannonball” and “Watermelon”, it shows why his alto sound became a benchmark for post-bop expressiveness. As a snapshot of his formative catalogue, it underlines both his Chicago-rooted energy and his gift for making sophisticated jazz feel immediate and alive.