Nat Adderley Sextet

Biography

The Nat Adderley Sextet was a jazz ensemble led by cornetist Nat Adderley (November 25, 1931 – January 2, 2000), an American jazz trumpeter and composer who became a pivotal figure in the development of soul jazz during the 1960s. Nat was the younger brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, and the brothers' careers took a transformative turn in 1955 when they traveled from Florida to New York and performed at Café Bohemia in Greenwich Village with bassist Oscar Pettiford's group. This legendary performance led to recording opportunities and job offers that established both brothers in the New York jazz scene. The brothers initially founded the Cannonball Adderley Quintet in 1956, which disbanded in 1957 due to lack of popular interest, after which Nat played with trombonist J.J. Johnson and the Woody Herman Sextet before the quintet reunited in 1959 to achieve major success.

The Nat Adderley Sextet, operating under Nat's leadership, became instrumental in popularizing soul jazz—a genre characterized by simple harmonies, heavy blues influences, catchy riffs, and church music elements. During the 1960s, Nat served as cornetist, composer, and manager for the ensemble, creating some of the group's most successful compositions. His most celebrated work, "Work Song," became a jazz standard and provided steady royalty income throughout his life, which Nat humorously called his "Social Security song." Other notable compositions included "Jive Samba," "Hummin'," "Sermonnette," and "The Old Country." The ensemble maintained prominence through the 1960s and 1970s, blending soul jazz accessibility with hard bop virtuosity, allowing musicians to demonstrate their technical abilities while reaching broader audiences.

Following Cannonball's death in 1975, Nat continued as a bandleader and educator, touring Europe and Japan and performing with musicians including Ron Carter and Sonny Fortune. In the 1980s, he led the Adderley Brotherhood, a sextet featuring several alumni of the original quintet, and later formed the Riverside Reunion Band, a bop group that toured Europe in 1994. Nat's contributions extended to academia, where he taught at Harvard and served as artist-in-residence at Florida Southern College. He was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997, cementing his legacy as a key architect of soul jazz and a significant figure in hard bop history.

Fun Facts

• Nat Adderley's composition "Work Song" was so consistently profitable that he humorously referred to it as his "Social Security song" due to the steady flow of royalty payments whenever other musicians recorded it.
• The legendary 1955 Café Bohemia performance that launched the Adderley brothers' careers was somewhat spontaneous—Cannonball was asked to sit in because the regular saxophonist Jerome Richardson was absent, and his performance was so impressive that Nat was immediately pulled on stage afterward.
• Nat recorded approximately 100 albums throughout his career, demonstrating his prolific output as both a performer and composer.
• After his brother Cannonball's death in 1975, Nat continued his musical career for another 25 years, touring internationally and eventually being inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997, just three years before his own death.

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Lionel Hampton - Hampton invited Nat to join his band after hearing him perform at a concert at Florida A&M in 1954 (Lionel Hampton's touring band) [1954-1955]

Key Collaborators

• Cannonball Adderley - Nat's older brother and primary musical partner; co-founder and saxophonist of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet (Cannonball Adderley Quintet recordings and performances) [1955-1975]
• Junior Mance - Pianist in the quintet known for his rolling, bluesy piano style (Quintet recordings including Sophisticated Swing and Cannonball Enroute) [1957-1960s]
• Sam Jones - Bassist who performed with Nat in the quintet (Quintet recordings) [1950s-1960s]
• Jimmy Cobb - Drummer in the quintet's rhythm section (Quintet recordings) [1950s-1960s]
• J.J. Johnson - Trombonist with whom Nat played for a couple of years after the initial quintet disbanded (J.J. Johnson's ensemble) [1957-1959]
• Woody Herman - Bandleader whose sextet featured Nat as a member (Woody Herman Sextet) [1957-1959]
• Ron Carter - Bassist who collaborated with Nat in his post-1975 touring ensembles (Nat Adderley touring bands) [1975-1990s]
• Sonny Fortune - Saxophonist who performed with Nat in his later ensembles (Nat Adderley touring bands) [1975-1990s]
• Bobby Timmons - Pianist who composed "This Here," the quintet's first major hit (This Here (composition))

Artists Influenced

• Soul Jazz Musicians - Nat and the Cannonball Adderley Quintet are widely attributed with developing and establishing the 1960s soul jazz style (Soul jazz genre development) [1959-1970s]

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia