Nat Adderley ‎- Work Song

By Harry Karalis

Label:	Riverside Records ‎– RLP-1167
Format:	Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo
Country:	US
Released:	1965
Genre:	Jazz
Style:	Post Bop

What is the theory if you should buy an album or not?

The title track ‘Work Song’ is undeniably a great piece, a hit song in fact. Lyrics were later written for it which made an even bigger hit and it became a standard in both vocal and instrumental forms. One piece as great as this means I bought it!

But is that all there is to this album?

No, thinking about the title track, it is so good that the following tracks may not achieve as great heights. I think the second track is a better than OK track and we then may be further disappointed by two ballads (expecting more hard bop).

I discovered this album when visiting my friend. Funnily enough he would take the stylus out of the groove during the second piece as he was not in to it.

During a later visit to my friends place I manoeuvred my way to put this album on. Having a listening session can mean jumping around to different albums, streaming and the attempted death of the album.

Back to the album, my friend goes to lift the arm again during the second piece and I stood between him and the turntable and I told him to just sit down and let it play. Suffice to say he loved track 3 ‘I’ve Got A Crush On You’ and track 4 ‘Mean To Me’.

A sucker for ballads, the next two tracks are compositions of the Adderley brothers which are fantastic again. Finally, we played the whole album through and we both agreed it’s a great album.

I have to this point failed to mention the line-up:

Nat Adderly on the cornet, Wes Montgomery on guitar, Sam Jones on the cello or bass, with an outstanding rhythm section, pianist Bobby Timmons, Percy Heath on cello and bass. Keter Betts also on bass with drummer Loius Hayes, all in various guises from a trio to a sextet.

By the way, it is a fantastic recording.