Jazz was undergoing a sea change in 1970 thanks to
Miles Davis' electronic and structural breakthroughs, and his former sideman,
Cannonball Adderley, was right in the thick of things (the two leaders shared musicians and traded influences during this period). Like
Miles, the Adderleys expanded their canvas to double-LPs -- this live album being the first of a series in the double-pocket format -- and each side would be organized into nearly continuous medleys. Not only that,
Cannonball still had
Joe Zawinul on board, who greatly altered the texture of
Cannonball's music with his floating electric piano and science-fiction interludes with a ring modulator (this would be his last album with
the Quintet). Roy Booker had replaced
Victor Gaskin on upright bass, Still,
Cannonball was a populist at heart, and his generosity of spirit shines through this often deliciously diverse album, which ranges wildly from flat-out soul and funky grooves to Brazilian music (
Milton Nascimento's "Bridges") and even possesses a cautious toe dip into the avant-garde ("Out and In"). It endures as such a document, too, since parts of it have been sampled by
J Dilla,
Pharcyde, Kwest the Madd Ladd, and
Funkdoobiest. Along the way, we hear vocals from both Adderleys (including an exceedingly rare yet oddly charming one from
Cannon on
Milton Nascimento's challenging "Bridges"), a stunningly touching
Cannonball testament on soprano in "Some Time Ago," and alto solos that definitely show that
Cannonball had absorbed the
Coltrane vocabulary. Guest
Nat Adderley, Jr.'s clichéd anti-Nixon sloganeering on the title tune is just that (granted, he was only 15 years old), but his presence testifies to the close-knit, liberal family atmosphere that
Cannonball encouraged. He more than compensates for it with his funky acoustic guitar playing backing his father's vocal on "Down in the Black Bottom" (the B-side for the album's rousing single "Get Up Off Your Knees") while a gospel Rhodes piano testifies. Another notable track is
Zawinul's modal "Painted Desert" in its first recorded (and most likely edited) version.
The Price You Got to Pay to Be Free is a fascinating snapshot of
the Quintet in transition. ~ Richard S. Ginell