Nat Adderley
Full Name: Nathaniel Adderley
Born: 25th November 1931
Died: 1st January 2000
Influences: Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry
Nat Adderley was born in 1931, in his teenage years he was adapt to singing, and indeed
he was quite good at it, although when the inevitable puberty arrived Nat was forced to stop
singing because his voice broke in a terrible way. Shortly after this and some encouragement
from his father, Nat took up the trumpet and started to learn, as like his brother
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley Nat was quick to learn on his instrument.
In these teenage years Nat was also playing with local bands, soon after this started he
switched over to the cornet.
from 1951 to 1953 Nat was playing in military bands,
but his first break came from a man called Lionel Hampton who had quite a successful big
band going at the time. Nat joined in 1954 and played continuously with them until his depture
only a year later. 1956 saw Nat finally join his older brother in a quintet, this band was
not as successful as was thought, and again a year later the band disbanded after financial
difficulties. Cannonball went on to play with Miles Davis and Nat played with J.J. Johnson
and with band leader Woody Herman.
Following his stint with Davis, Cannonball again asked Nat if he would play in another quintet
and the 2 brothers were reunited. This band continued until Cannonball's untimely death in
1975, however Nat carried on the band and infact led some fantastic sessions of his own, mostly
for the Riverside label. Nat was also a well-known sidemen playing in many classic sessions.
The 1990s proved to be a good year for him when he played with some of the top young Alto
Saxophone players of that time, including Vincent Herring whose style owes much to
Cannonball.
Nats style
Nat has really kept his roots by playing the same hardbop way, he did in his final years of
life have an extensive knowledge of bebop as well. The solos he performed were often lyrical
with him blazing in the upper register, and finally with the rapid fire runs that made him
a rival with some of the big players.
Nat was really compared with Miles Davis, but I think this was really quite wrong, with Nat
having sounds which was more suited to Dizzy Gillespie and Clark Terry.
Selected Discography
As a leader
As a sideman
Discography - http://members.aol.com/jaz206/profiles/adderley.html