Know What I Mean?＜限定盤＞

マイルス・デイヴィス・セクステットのメンバーとして有名なアダレイとエヴァンスにょるは彼らの最後の、そして最も意義深い1960年のコラボレーション作品。

キャノンボールというニックネームは、彼の健康的な食欲を意味する"cannibal"をひねったもので、アルト・サックスとして非常に魅力的であったため、多くの人が彼を次のチャーリー・パーカーとみなした。一方、デイヴィスはエヴァンスのピアノの才能を「静かな炎。水晶のような音、あるいは澄んだ滝から流れ落ちるきらめく水のようだ」と評したという2人。羽のように軽やかな"Waltz for Debby"や、器用でアップビートなガーシュウィンのカヴァー"Who Cares?"など聴きどころも豊富。

〈パーソネル〉Cannonball Adderley (as) Bill Evans(p) Percy Heath(b) Connie Kay (ds)

What's better than a Bill Evans Trio album? How about a Bill Evans trio album on which the bassist is Percy Heath, the drummer is Connie Kay, and the leader is not Evans but alto sax god Cannonball Adderley, making the group actually a quartet? It's a different sort of ensemble, to be sure, and the musical results are marvelous. Adderley's playing on "Waltz for Debby" is both muscular and sensitive, as it is on the other Evans composition here, a modal ballad called "Know What I Mean?" Other treats include the sprightly "Toy" and two takes of the Gershwin classic "Who Cares?" The focus here is, of course, on Adderley's excellent post-bop stylings, but it's also interesting to hear Evans playing with a rhythm section as staid and conservative as Kay and Heath (both charter members of the Modern Jazz Quartet). It's hard to imagine any fan of mainstream jazz not finding much to love on this very fine recording. ~ Rick Anderson