All questions will be answered in Sovalo
May 24, 2017 10:45 AM Subscribe
In February 1975, the stars aligned in such a way that jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and eclelctic singer-guitarist Jose Feliciano appeared together -- as actors and as a musical double-act -- on the influential eastern-western television series Kung Fu.
Kung Fu (1972 - 1975) starred David Carradine as a Kwai-Chang Caine, a half-Chinese half American Shaolin monk, on the lam with a price on his head in the American West. In the tradition of Route 66, The Lone Ranger, and dozens of other sagas, Caine wanders from place to place with the intention of maintaining a low profile and minding his own business, yet somehow always ends up very publicly involved in other people's business. This inevitably involves dodging projectiles and administering boots to the head in slow motion.
Battle Hymn: [full episode (Dailymotion)]
Third season episode “Battle Hymn” weaves music, memory, murder, inheritance, and a treasure map. Caine encounters two musicians, Jonno Marcado (Feliciano) and Trim Delaville (Adderley), jamming/busking in the middle of the nowhere. Inevitably, he gets involved with their problems. The original story – though not the teleplay -- was written by Star Trek's D. C. Fontana.
I have not been able to ascertain why or how these two non-acting musicians came to appear together on this show at this time. But there it is.
Here are the main musical interluudes:
He later wrote and performed the theme song for the 1970s sitcom Chico and the Man, and played Chico's cousin in one episode.
He's appeared in several other teevy shows and movies, usually as himself playing a club date with maybe a few lines of stage patter, as in the film Fargo, or surrounded by adoring regular cast member, as in this scene from Chico & The Man.
As far as memory serves and the Internet provides, with this appearance on Kung Fu, Feliciano racks up more lines of dialogue than all his other appearances combined.
Julian "Cannonball" Adderly (1928 – 1975), jazz saxophonist and band-leader, is best known for two crossover hits, "Work Song" (composed by brother Nat Adderley) and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", (composed by Joe Zawinul). The main riff from Work Song is often quoted in other works (Anji, Bert Jansch at about 1:20), and both songs were covered more than once by rock bands (Paul Butterfield), the latter often with lyrics added (The Buckinghams).
Adderley also appeared on Miles Davis's landmark Kind of Blue session (When’s the last time you listened to "Flamenco Sketches"?), and is one of the few band leaders to have employed Miles Davis as a sideman (on Miles’ terms of course: Something Else (1958)).
Although he appeared on televion many times, IMDB lists this ep of Kung Fu as Adderley's only acting foray. He puts in a suitably stoned performance here. Just six months after this was filmed, Cannonball Adderley was dead from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 46.
Trim’s saxophone is anachronistic, of course. The series takes place in the 1870s, more or less. Adolph Sax developed the saxophone in the 1840s, but none were manufactured in the US until 1885. Most histories of jazz music don't mention the saxophone until around 1914, though American brass bands such as Sousa's had been using them for decades. (Brass bands formerly employed massed clarinets to fill the role of orchestral strings. They found that they could replace a dozen or more clarinets with three or four of the much louder saxophones.) So it’s not impossible that a musician like Trim would own one, but very very unlikely.
More Jose Feliciano
Kung Fu (1972 - 1975) starred David Carradine as a Kwai-Chang Caine, a half-Chinese half American Shaolin monk, on the lam with a price on his head in the American West. In the tradition of Route 66, The Lone Ranger, and dozens of other sagas, Caine wanders from place to place with the intention of maintaining a low profile and minding his own business, yet somehow always ends up very publicly involved in other people's business. This inevitably involves dodging projectiles and administering boots to the head in slow motion.
Battle Hymn: [full episode (Dailymotion)]
Third season episode “Battle Hymn” weaves music, memory, murder, inheritance, and a treasure map. Caine encounters two musicians, Jonno Marcado (Feliciano) and Trim Delaville (Adderley), jamming/busking in the middle of the nowhere. Inevitably, he gets involved with their problems. The original story – though not the teleplay -- was written by Star Trek's D. C. Fontana.
I have not been able to ascertain why or how these two non-acting musicians came to appear together on this show at this time. But there it is.
Here are the main musical interluudes:
- Caine encounters Trim and Jonno playing to nobody in the desert.
- Trim and Jonno busking in the town square at Sovalo.
- Trim plays a solo lament in the town jail.
- Victorious Trim and Jonno jam with Caine and Cousin Raoul. Carradine, a fairly competent flautist by this time, keeps up with the two pros, and yes, it is actually him playing.
He later wrote and performed the theme song for the 1970s sitcom Chico and the Man, and played Chico's cousin in one episode.
He's appeared in several other teevy shows and movies, usually as himself playing a club date with maybe a few lines of stage patter, as in the film Fargo, or surrounded by adoring regular cast member, as in this scene from Chico & The Man.
As far as memory serves and the Internet provides, with this appearance on Kung Fu, Feliciano racks up more lines of dialogue than all his other appearances combined.
Julian "Cannonball" Adderly (1928 – 1975), jazz saxophonist and band-leader, is best known for two crossover hits, "Work Song" (composed by brother Nat Adderley) and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", (composed by Joe Zawinul). The main riff from Work Song is often quoted in other works (Anji, Bert Jansch at about 1:20), and both songs were covered more than once by rock bands (Paul Butterfield), the latter often with lyrics added (The Buckinghams).
Adderley also appeared on Miles Davis's landmark Kind of Blue session (When’s the last time you listened to "Flamenco Sketches"?), and is one of the few band leaders to have employed Miles Davis as a sideman (on Miles’ terms of course: Something Else (1958)).
Although he appeared on televion many times, IMDB lists this ep of Kung Fu as Adderley's only acting foray. He puts in a suitably stoned performance here. Just six months after this was filmed, Cannonball Adderley was dead from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 46.
Trim’s saxophone is anachronistic, of course. The series takes place in the 1870s, more or less. Adolph Sax developed the saxophone in the 1840s, but none were manufactured in the US until 1885. Most histories of jazz music don't mention the saxophone until around 1914, though American brass bands such as Sousa's had been using them for decades. (Brass bands formerly employed massed clarinets to fill the role of orchestral strings. They found that they could replace a dozen or more clarinets with three or four of the much louder saxophones.) So it’s not impossible that a musician like Trim would own one, but very very unlikely.
More Jose Feliciano
- Back Home In Indiana (w/ The Modern Sound Trio (Jose at 17))
- Ain’t No Sunshine
- The Thrill is Gone
- Purple Haze – Jose shreds!
- Star Spangled Banner
- La Bamba (w/ Trini Lopez)
- Usted
- Affirmation
- Dat Dere (Timmons)
- This Here (Timmons)
- Know what I mean? (Evans)
- Jive Samba (N Adderley)
- Sack o’ Woe (J Adderley)
- African Waltz (MacDermot)
Autumn Leaves from the aforementioned Somethin' Else LP is a definitive standard and is often one of the first tunes learned by jazz students.
posted by rocket88 at 11:27 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by rocket88 at 11:27 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
I am far too old to make much use of the word 'awesome,' but Cannonball Addlerly soloing on Kung Fu surely merits that description. Don't remember that episode at all; thanks for the links. Your descriptions of the principals – and the history of the saxophone – are quite good as well.
...minding his own business, yet somehow always ends up very publicly involved in other people's business.
Back in those days (hard to believe 40 years have gone by) the comedian Franklyn Ajaye used to say, "The thing about Kung Fu is, Kane starts off every episode preaching love and peace and happiness, and by 9:30 he's ripped up half the town."
posted by LeLiLo at 1:05 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
...minding his own business, yet somehow always ends up very publicly involved in other people's business.
Back in those days (hard to believe 40 years have gone by) the comedian Franklyn Ajaye used to say, "The thing about Kung Fu is, Kane starts off every episode preaching love and peace and happiness, and by 9:30 he's ripped up half the town."
posted by LeLiLo at 1:05 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
This is incredible. I'm a sucker for musicians from very different genres collaborating.
And for once, YouTube comments aren't awful. My favorite from PHJimy: "First rule of busking: Choose a good location."
posted by smirkette at 1:49 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
And for once, YouTube comments aren't awful. My favorite from PHJimy: "First rule of busking: Choose a good location."
posted by smirkette at 1:49 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
This is really neat. (My initiation to Cannonball Adderley was the Quintet Plus.)
posted by Standard Orange at 11:04 PM on May 25, 2017
posted by Standard Orange at 11:04 PM on May 25, 2017
I have not been able to ascertain why or how these two non-acting musicians came to appear together on this show at this time. But there it is.
I'm trying to figure this out myself, but a discography of Cannonball Adderley on Google Books speculates it may have something to do with Adderley's marriage to the actress Olga James. Maybe she got him the gig. I'm looking at her credits on IMDB, and her last credit was in 1972 doing voice acting on the infamous Hanna Barbera cartoon Sealab 2020 that Cartoon Network's Adult Swim used to spoof so mercilessly. It also appears she played Verna Kincaid, the sister-in-law of the Bill Cosby character, on the The Bill Cosby Show that was on TV from 1969 to 1971. Of course, when I see a woman's acting credits disappear after appearing on a Bill Cosby production, it has a lot more ominous overtones these days.
posted by jonp72 at 5:26 PM on May 26, 2017
I'm trying to figure this out myself, but a discography of Cannonball Adderley on Google Books speculates it may have something to do with Adderley's marriage to the actress Olga James. Maybe she got him the gig. I'm looking at her credits on IMDB, and her last credit was in 1972 doing voice acting on the infamous Hanna Barbera cartoon Sealab 2020 that Cartoon Network's Adult Swim used to spoof so mercilessly. It also appears she played Verna Kincaid, the sister-in-law of the Bill Cosby character, on the The Bill Cosby Show that was on TV from 1969 to 1971. Of course, when I see a woman's acting credits disappear after appearing on a Bill Cosby production, it has a lot more ominous overtones these days.
posted by jonp72 at 5:26 PM on May 26, 2017
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posted by Naberius at 11:00 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]