Off the Record Sessions

Off the Record Sessions is a new fortnightly jazz series held on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. Featuring leading players from the Scottish scene recreating the magic of classic albums, the series opens with Cannonball Adderley’s landmark album Live in San Francisco from 1959.
Alto saxophonist Adderley was one of the most popular attractions of the soul-jazz era and had recently taken part in Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue recording. Over two nights at the Jazz Workshop, 18th and 20th October, he led a new quintet in a live recording that was groundbreaking for several reasons.
It was the first recording to feature Adderley’s quintet with two stars of the music, drummer Louis Hayes and pianist Bobby Timmons. Timmons had recently left Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and would continue a run of successful compositions that included Moanin’ by contributing the popular This Here to this recording, which was one of Riverside Records’ first live albums. The atmosphere of the gigs was also captured by producer Orrin Keepnews – very unusually at the time - keeping Adderley’s announcements and interactions with the audience as part of the recorded performance.
As well as This Here and Adderley’s own You Got It and Spontaneous Combustion, the album includes Thelonious Monk’s Straight, No Chaser and Randy Weston's Hi-Fly and the band was completed by the great Sam Jones on bass and Adderley’s brother, Nat on cornet. The musicians on this gig in the intimate Griffin Bar will be Tom Gibbs (piano), Doug Hough (drums), Peter Johnstone (bass) and Tom McNiven (trumpet) with Martin Kershaw playing the Cannonball role on alto saxophone.