1971 2 x LP Cannonball Adderley “The Black Messiah” on Capitol Records.

Man, there is just no arguing with this super TUFF record, that is also still weight-in-gold Cheapish Heat. It’s a righteous bomb of influences spanning four sides like a novel, from Cannon soul blues to straight improv, to fusion, to Cannon Buckshot Lefunk to avant jazz excursion. Amazingly and not at all surprisingly, it often sounds like outtakes from “A Silent Way”, before transitioning on the fly into Hancock groove, except it’s actually George Duke. Airto does his killer percussion thang, Walter Booker (check him on John Hicks’ “Some Other Time”) is on bass, Nat Adderley is all up in the cornet, the Wrecking Crew’s Mike Deasy has both an absurd mullet and also some very slick runs on guitar, and Roy McCurdy slaps the drums. Seriously, how does anyone go to bed every night without opening this goofy LIVE Swiss Army Knife of a record? It rules.