Know What I Mean? was originally released in 1960 as a collaboration between jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and legendary pianist Bill Evans, along with the rhythm section of the Modern Jazz Quartet, Percy Heath (bass) and Connie Kay (drums).

This new edition of the album is released as part of the OJC Series and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with (AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. It is presented in a Tip-On Jacket. US Import.

Side A:
1. Waltz For Debby
2. Goodbye
3. Who Cares?
4. Venice

Side B:
1. Toy
2. Elsa
3. Nancy (With The Laughing Face)
4. Know What I Mean?

Charlie Parker died in 1955 and, without missing a beat, Cannonball was there to catch Bird’s mantle before it had touched the ground. After Miles featured himself with Cannon (Somethin’ Else) and then added him to his front line with Coltrane, the public was well-prepared for the culmination -- Kind of Blue -- an album that remains the most successful in jazz history (in terms of both sales and critical reviews).

With the break-up of the sextet, Cannon was free to go back to the soul-jazz and hard-bop approach of the quintet with his brother -- which previously had struggled to make enough to live on. But from 1959 to 1966 (the year of Mercy, Mercy, Mercy) the Quintet was a top draw, bringing jazz to both coasts and around the world while recording a series of live albums with a succession of gifted piano-players (Bobby Timmons, Victor Feldman, Joe Zawinul) and eventually the addition of a 3rd front-liner and inarguable star, Yusef Lateef.

Cannon’s style, unlike Sonny Stitt’s, represented a distinct break from the bebop lines of Bird and Diz, replacing some of the cerebral, intimidating elements of bebop with music that was heated, deep-fried, and readily accessible. Some musicians began to take shots at Cannon (he’s too sloppy, and his elocution needs work, etc.), but those who were able to drop the comparisons with Bird soon came around to Cannon’s always joyous, firmly-supported sound (the most powerful and energized breath-stream of any alto player -- as I discovered recently when comparing three interpretations of Stars Fell on Alabama, the other two by Stitt and Phil Woods).

As a Cannonball completest and self-professed alto-tenor freak, I’d recommend Cannon’s two albums with alto plus rhythm section ahead of the admittedly more popular albums featuring Cannon with other horn players. If you’re a Wynton Kelly fan (as I am), you won’t find better Wynton or Cannon than the Riverside album Cannonball Takes Charge.

If you’re a Bill Evans fan (my favorite pianist), you won’t find a more thoughtful, lyrical Cannonball than Know What I Mean? Still, over the past 50 years, I’ve played the Wynton session ten times for every single spin of Know What I Mean?, an whereas Bill’s is a restraining influence, Wynton’s is an enabling one. Theirs is the more stimulating, mutually complementary relationship, and I trust it will be the listener’s as well.

In closing, the focus here is, of course, on Adderley’s excellent post-bop styling, 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). In fact, it’s hard to imagine any fan of mainstream jazz not finding much to love on this very fine recording (out now as a 180 Gram vinyl reissue from Craft Recordings).

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