Cornetist Nat Adderly passed away on Sunday due to complications from diabetes at the age of sixty-eight. A prolific musician who participated in a large number of recording dates as both a sideman and a leader, Nat Adderly Sr. will forever be known as the younger brother (by three years) and eternal bandmate of the late alto saxophonist, Julian "Cannonball" Adderly. Nathaniel Adderly was born in Tampa, Florida on November 25th, 1931. He actually started out as a child singer but when his voice changed he switched to the trumpet. Nat's first trumpet teacher was his older brother Cannonball but their father, Leander Kirksey, was also a cornetist and participated greatly in Nat's early musical development. He first took up the trumpet in 1946, but switched to cornet in 1950. Both Nat and his brother spent time in the armed services and played with the 36th Army Band from 1951 through 1953.
Nat played in Lionel Hampton's band in 1954 and 1955, but his big break in music came just a bit later. While "Cannonball" worked as a teacher at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale and Nat attended Florida A&M University, the two brothers drove up to New York City during the summer of 1955 where their lives were changed forever. Thanks to a trombone player named Buster Cooper, Nat and Cannonball showed up at a Greenwich Village nightclub called the Café Bohemia and sat in with a group co-led by bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Kenny Clarke. Cannonball's robust alto style (and similarity to Charlie Parker's playing) attracted immediate attention and musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and J.J. Johnson quickly came down to check out the boys from Florida. Within a few days of their New York debut, Nat and Julian were recording their first album and on their way to becoming one of the more successful tandems in jazz.
The Adderly brothers first began touring as a combo in 1956, but broke up in 1957 due to financial problems. The brothers reunited after Nat toured Europe and Saudi Arabia with Woody Herman in 1959 and Cannonball made his name playing with Miles Davis. A talented composer as well as musician, Nat recorded a number of records under his own name without his celebrated older brother. His most enduring (and frequently recorded) composition is probably "Work Song." He also wrote "Jazz Samba," and "That's Right," all of which helped popularize the Adderly Brothers' influential style of soulful, funky jazz. The Adderlys recorded prolifically with fairly consistent results. Aside from a few special occasions over the years, neither brother appeared on the other's solo recordings, saving those collaborations for their many successful albums as "The Cannonball Adderly Quintet Featuring Nat Adderly."
During the sixties the Adderly Quintet enjoyed even greater popularity with their pianist Joe Zawinul's composition, "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy." Using the blues as an eternal touchstone, the band thrived in spite of rock 'n' roll's ever-increasing dominance of the airwaves. Never the star but always present, Nat let his brother enjoy the spotlight while he quietly ran the band's everyday concerns including doling out pay and (when needed) discipline. After Cannonball Adderly's death in 1975, Nat went on to work with his own quintets and participated in other musical settings including an exciting group he led with trombonist J.J. Johnson. Nat recorded a number of excellent albums as a leader for jazz labels like Savoy, Riverside, Steeplechase, Evidence and Landmark Records.
In 1997 Nat joined the faculty of Florida Southern College as their "artist in residence." While Nat Adderly's cornet playing was never revolutionary, he was a resilient instrumentalist and a notable soldier in the vast army of jazz. He will be missed.
[For the record, Savoy Jazz has recently released the two-CD set, "The Adderly Brothers: The Summer Of '55." These are the Adderlys' first recording sessions and are well worth checking out.]
by Mitch Myers
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