Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at "The Club"

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at "The Club"
Live album by
Cannonball Adderley
ReleasedFebruary 1967[1]
RecordedOctober 20, 1966
StudioCapitol (Hollywood)
Genre
Length41:07
LabelCapitol
ProducerDavid Axelrod
Cannonball Adderley chronology
Cannonball in Japan
(1966) 		Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at "The Club"
(1967) 		74 Miles Away
(1967)

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at "The Club" is a 1967 live in-studio album by The Cannonball Adderley Quintet, the jazz group formed by musician Cannonball Adderley.[2] It received the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance – Group or Soloist with Group in 1967,[3] and was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2021.[4]

Though the original liner notes state that it was recorded at the Club DeLisa in Chicago, it was actually recorded at Capitol's Hollywood studio with an invited audience and an open bar.[5] The reason for this discrepancy, according to the liner notes in the CD reissue, is that Adderley and the new manager of Club DeLisa (which had been renamed "The Club", after operating for years in Chicago under its old name) were friends, and Adderley offered to give the club a bit of free publicity.

The title track became a surprise hit, reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album reached #13 on the Top LPs chart.[6] On this album, Joe Zawinul played a Wurlitzer electric piano; however, subsequent live performances saw him taking up the new and mellower-sounding Fender Rhodes instrument.

The track "Hippodelphia" is sometimes mis-spelt "Hipadelphia" on other recordings.[7] The track listing for the album uses "Hippodelphia", while the liner notes, written by E. Rodney Jones, for the same album refer to "Hipadelphia".[8]

Reception

The Allmusic review by Steve Huey awarded the album 5 stars and states: "Adderley's irrepressible exuberance was a major part of his popularity, and no document captures that quality as well—or with such tremendous musical rewards—as Mercy, Mercy, Mercy."[9] The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 3 out of 4 stars, stating: "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy is a hard swinging live album with one of Cannon's hottest outings on 'Sticks'.".[10]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[9]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz[10]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[11]

Track listing

  1. "Fun" (Nat Adderley) – 8:26
  2. "Games" (N. Adderley) – 7:19
  3. "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (Joe Zawinul) – 5:10
  4. "Sticks" (Cannonball Adderley) – 3:54
  5. "Hippodelphia"[12] (Zawinul) – 5:49
  6. "Sack O' Woe" (C. Adderley) – 10:29

Personnel

See also

References

  1. ^ "Billboard". February 11, 1967.
  2. ^ Capitol Records discography accessed August 18, 2015
  3. ^ "Winners". grammy.com. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  4. ^ "Grammy Hall of Fame Welcomes 2021 Inductions: A Tribe Called Quest, Billie Holiday, Journey, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen and More". grammy.com. December 21, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  5. ^ Liner notes by Michael Cuscuna for Money in the Pocket at Cannonball Adderley official web site
  6. ^ "Billboard". April 8, 1967.
  7. ^ Sheridan, Chris, Dis Here: A Bio-Discography of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000, p. 168. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  8. ^ Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at "The Club" The Cannonball Adderley Rendez-Vous. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  9. ^ a b Campbell, A. Allmusic Review accessed 28 October 2009
  10. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). London: Penguin. pp. 10. ISBN 978-0-141-02327-4.
  11. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 5. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  12. ^ Sheridan (2000), Dis Here: A Bio-Discography of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, p. 173. Retrieved June 29, 2013.