""It’s an album called ‘Somethin' Else’ by Cannonball Adderley.

I’ve had quite a bit of time in the rock business but then I never really felt at home. As soon as I leaned over into jazz I felt very much that this is where I’m supposed to be.

I really love being in the jazz business and continue to be in the jazz business.

I used to go to jazz gigs in pubs when growing up in the North, but I never really knew much about the bigger names, my father was a trad fan, he didn’t think that much of the modern stuff so I was a bit in the dark and looking for guidance. Knowing the artists wasn’t as easy as it is with rock artists or pop artists, they were all over the radio; modern jazz was just not as accessible.

So, much as I knew that I really liked jazz and went to pub jazz gigs, I was really struggling to buy albums that would reflect what I liked.

I came across this album many years ago and I played this and thought ‘that’s the stuff I really like’. So it became a kind of introduction that set you off in a direction that you go ‘so ok, what else came around this?’.

Then that leads you into Miles Davis. It leads you into John Coltrane and next thing you know you are whistling Pharoah Sanders.

It came out in 1958 and I think I always looked on it as ‘Kind of Blues’ slightly cooler, older brother strangely enough.

I quite liked that because it came out a year before and Cannonball and Miles are on the album.

So because it was my introduction to what became a huge part of my life, the jazz world, I’ve always looked upon it very very fondly."

Simon Cooke: Ronnie Scott's, London, 22nd January 2015

Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else released 1958

Simon Cooke - Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club

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