JANUARY 27

                 CANNOBALL ADDERLEY
                          BILL EVANS
                     Know What I Mean

                       Recording Dates:
                           January 27 - March 13, 1961

                       Personnel:
                            Cannonball Adderley  AS
                            Bill Evans                  P
                            Percy Heath              B
                            Connie Kay               D

                        LINK Retired






Reviewby Rick Anderson

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.