condition (record/cover): NM / EX

Purple vinyl. Gatefold sleeve with original innersleeve.

A Japanese Capitol collection from the era when Cannonball Adderley ruled the label's jazz roster - the sixties quintet years with brother Nat Adderley and Joe Zawinul, when soul jazz was both a popular force and a genuinely creative one, largely because this band kept it honest on both counts. The "Deluxe" series treatment tells you exactly how the Japanese market regarded him: not as a crossover act to be repackaged cheaply but as a master deserving the full presentation, heavyweight pressing included. Inside: grooves, gospel changes, Zawinul's electric colors starting to glow at the edges, and that alto sound that could warm a cold room from the first phrase - sophistication that never once talked down to its audience, which was always the Adderley secret.

A fine single-disc window into the Capitol years for those who know only the Riverside classics, in the pressing quality Japan reserves for the artists it truly loves. Reliable pleasure, beautifully served.