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"Luther Hughes and the Cannonball-Coltrane Project
Things Are Getting Better "
by Jeff Tamarkin
Jazz
Times - Dec. 26, 2010
With each successive album—this is their fourth—bassist
Luther Hughes and the Cannonball-Coltrane Project move further toward sealing
an identity of their own. Formed in 2002 initially to pay tribute to the
1959 Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago album, which featured the leader
and John Coltrane (moonlighting from Miles at the time) trading off saxophone
licks that still resonate a half-century later, the C-C Project quickly began
incorporating its own compositions—their 2004 debut shared only one
track with its inspiration, a fiery remake of “Limehouse Blues.” Things
Are Getting Better includes three songs originally recorded by Adderley—“Jive
Samba,” “Blue Daniel” and the title track—along with
one, “Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise,” cut by Coltrane on his
Live At the Village Vanguard set. Another, “Take the Coltrane,” comes
from the collaborative effort of Trane and Duke Ellington. But the remainder
of the album is comprised of original compositions by members of the quintet—primarily
tenor saxophonist Glenn Cashman, who knows better than to try to ape Coltrane’s
style verbatim. On “McCoy,” his tribute to classic Coltrane Quartet-era
pianist McCoy Tyner, Cashman blows bold but stops short of stepping too far
out of the lines, appropriately leaving the more exploratory moments to pianist
Ed Czach. Another Cashman entry, “Trane and Wayne”—the
latter of course being Wayne Shorter—succeeds in honoring the two masters
without, again, appropriating them. Alto saxophonist Bruce Babad is credited
as the arranger on two of the actual Adderley numbers and he both wrote and
arranged “Primrose Star,” which he bases on the chord changes
of Adderley’s “Stars Fell on Alabama,” from the Chicago
album. A lovely ballad, it pays its respects—as this band was created
to do—but stands on its own.
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