Cannonball Adderley: Fiddler on the Roof

An album of Broadway hits could easily become a lackluster commercial concession, but Adderleys Fiddler on the Roof is far from boring. Recorded less than a month after the show opened on Broadway, the title tune fits surprisingly well into the groups hard-bop style. Cannonball eloquently embellishes the theme and Zawinul weaves a clever countermelody behind the altoists lead. The brothers exhibit that exuberant and soulful Adderley bounce, Lloyd ventures into Coltrane-like territory, and Zawinul shows he had something to say on the acoustic piano years before he famously went electric. Brown and Hayess engine churns and their persistent prodding moves things along nicely.