Work Song (Adderley song)

"Work Song" is a work song and jazz standard[1] by American trumpeter Nat Adderley and writer Oscar Brown Jr. It was first featured in Adderley's 1960 studio album of the same name, which was met with high praise and acclaim.[2][3] "Work Song" is one of Adderley's best known compositions.[4]

Headshot photo of man with a goatie.
Nat Adderley in 1969.

The song was originally only an instrumental, but Oscar Brown Jr. included lyrics in a cover released the following year on his album, Sin & Soul.[5]

Background
Many prisoners chained together standing together.
Picture of a Southern chain gang circa 1903.

"Work Song" was inspired by Nat Adderley's childhood experience of seeing a group of convict laborers singing while they worked on a chain gang, paving the street in front of his family’s home in Florida.[6]

Musical composition

The song is a 16 bar form in F minor. It is a minor blues.[7]

F-7 𝄎[lower-alpha 1] 𝄎 𝄎
𝄎 𝄎 C7 𝄎
F-7 𝄎 𝄎 𝄎
F7 Bb7 G7 C7 F-7

The Penguin Guide to Jazz states: "'Work Song' is the real classic, of course, laced with a funky blues feel but marked by some unexpectedly lyrical playing."[8] In a musical analysis of Adderley's improvisational bebop style, Kyle M. Granville writes that the song is "connected to the soul-jazz style that Nat Adderley and his brother Cannonball Adderley immersed themselves into during the mid-1960s."[9]

Notes
  1. This indicates to stay on the chord that came before. See: Grid notation

References
  1. Saunders, Martin Wesley. Nat Adderley (1931-2000) and Work song : an analysis of improvisational style and evolution. OCLC 690253067.
  2. Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed February 17, 2010.
  3. Larkin, Colin (2002). The Virgin Encyclopedia of 60s Music (3rd ed.). Virgin Books Ltd. p. 9. ISBN 1 85227 933 8.
  4. Micucci, Matt (2020-11-25). "Song of the Day: Cannonball Adderley Quintet, "Work Song"". JAZZIZ Magazine. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  5. Yanow, Scott. "Oscar Brown, Jr.: Sin & Soul – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  6. Gridley, Mark (2014). "Review of Walk Tall: The Music and Life of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. (The Hal Leonard Jazz Biography Series); Jazz Icons: Heroes, Myths and the Jazz Tradition". Notes. 71 (1): 108–112. ISSN 0027-4380.
  7. Vaartstra, Brent (2013-05-30). "Work Song". Learn Jazz Standards. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  8. Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). London: Penguin. pp. 11. ISBN 978-0-141-02327-4.
  9. M, Granville, Kyle (2020-01-01). A Musical Analysis of the Improvisational Bebop Style of Nat Adderley (1955-1964). OCLC 1286934150.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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