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42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Flawless, sublime, the finest jazz album I know, 4 April 2002
By A Customer
One of my first jazz purchases, and the album against which I measure all others: and usually find wanting!I picked up at random in the store, and it has become my jazz conversion album -- the one I buy for people who don't see why I love jazz. A very close second to this album for me is Miles Davis, Kind of Blue. I challenge you to not love this CD. "Autumn Leaves" alone will melt the hardest hard.
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52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The greatest of all the Blue Notes?, 29 Feb 2004
This was very much a collaborative effort between Cannonball Adderley and the master himself, Miles Davis, in a rare guest appearance. Adderley was part of Miles' sextet that recorded 'Milestones' around the same time as this recording, and Miles was returning the favour. Miles is, if anything, more dominant on this album than his own. The beautiful opener 'Autumn Leaves',one of the truly great jazz recordings, is an example of this, as Miles takes three solos to Adderley's one, playing the theme at the beginning and end. The arrangement of this standard is inspired, the piano intro and outro by Hank Jones work superbly well, and Miles is at his lyrical, moody best. 'Love For Sale' is also excellent, particularly Miles' contribution, and it is interesting to compare with the version by Miles' sextet, including Adderley, recorded a few months later, and found on '58 Sessions.' After those two slow/medium tracks, Miles' own 'Somethin Else' raises the tempo and contains blistering interplay between the two men, both playing brilliantly in a joyful and exuberant performance. Adderley redresses the balance with 'Dancing in the Dark,' where he takes the only lead role and slowly builds momentum and emotion in his playing. 'One for Daddy O' is another fine track featuring both soloists in great form, and although the additional 'Rangoon' is a pefectly decent performance, the album would be as good without it, as it was in its original form, with Dancing in the Dark' as the closing track. A classic album, and in my opinion the best of all Blue Note recordings; a must for fans of either star (and the supporting cast isn't bad either including Art Blakey on drums!) It offers yet another element to Miles' remarkable late 50s music, arguably the greatest period of his career.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The title says it all, 20 May 2001
A stunning album, 'Somethin' Else' was a collaboration between three men - Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley, the credited bandleader; Alfred Lion, the producer and that inescapable great of jazz, Miles Davis. It always seems a bit harsh to Adderley that Miles gets so much more credit for this work than his sideman from 'Kind of Blue' - a much larger photo than the former for example - but then you sit back and realise that, as Musician noted in 1992, this is "...Among the candidates for 'greatest Miles Davis record'...". Miles has such a large role in the recording that you wonder if he is actually bandleader. Fortunately, this is not really important - and soloing from all the players is brilliant, Adderley especially.You can refer to the liner notes for details of the tracks when you get the album - the bonus track 'Bangoon' is reason enough to buy this re-release. 1958 was a great year for jazz, and 'somethin' else' is right up there with the other great releases of its time.
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