Quintet in the studio
Most of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet's best-known recordings were recorded live, or pretended to be. This, the Quintet's 2nd album, is an exception. As a result, it doesn't match the hot intensity of their best live recordings. That said, it has its own charms.

It took a while for the group to settle on a pianist - Bobby Timmons lasted for only one-and-a-half albums, and is replaced by bebop specialist Barry Harris on four tracks.

The album is best known for Nat Adderley's "Work Song" and Timmons's "Dat Dere". "Work Song" gets a nice runthrough here, but is a pale shadow of later live versions. It's also worth highlighting Duke Pearson's "Jeannine", one of the best performances on this album.

In general I favor this group's live work, but upon revisiting Them Dirty Blues I found it to be very enjoyable. Recommended!

Cannonball stands alone
I'm a musician from Florida, been playing since before this album was new. The Adderley brothers, graduates of the great music program at Florida A&M University, have a reputation in their home state that resonates to this day.

Cannonball demonstrates here that a 12-bar blues gives you all you need to play brilliant stuff. I think every rock guitar hero and wannabe should have to go back to the woodshed until they can play at least four of Cannon's choruses from this album, note for note. That alone would raise the quality of rock music a couple orders of magnitude. Intensity, faithfulness to the blues idiom, wit, humor, great tone and a conversational, storytelling style. Sure, the tunes are substantial and challenging, and the arrangements are sophisticated stuff. But it's the solos that are truly brilliant, uplifting music, which musicians should study humbly for decades to come.

Prime material, prime performances
All the feeling of a live gig is conveyed in this 1960 studio recording, thanks to expressive performances by the whole quintet. You'd be hard pressed to find a better jazz CD at this price (at this writing, $7.97).
There's never been any doubt about Cannonball's mastery of the blues, ably demonstrated here on the title track and on "Dat Dere." But he could also swing ("Del Sasser" and "Soon") and brilliantly interpret ballads ("Easy Living" will be his most memorable performance of this set for many listeners). Whatever the style, his improvisational ideas were musically interesting, even during passages that showed off his impressive technique.
One of the best characteristics of the Adderley brothers' quintets of this era was the ensemble sound they created, combining harmony and counterpoint with clever licks that elevated the group beyond merely soloists taking turns. The freedom and agility of a small group along with the discipline usually associated with a big band made for a great combination.

Hard bop at its best
I've owned the LP of this album since I was a kid, and it's always been one of my favorites - great arrangements, and an incredible band. It's great to have the CD now, so I can save wear and tear on the LP.

Cannonball's best hard bop..
This is cannonball's best hard bop album slightly edging out his riverside debut "portrait of cannonball" which featured blue mitchell on trumpet. Here it is cannonball's brother nat in his typical place in the band at cornet and playing extremly well as usual. The album starts out with a snappy version of nat's "work song" with 6 other blues drenched songs. An exellent version of Bobby timmons classic "dat dere" and the superb title song. This is cannonball at his best with a solid support cast top to bottom. Important for all hard bop fans to own this one.

The only negative is the sound quality that is mediocre on some tunes. The master recording was done with riverside and then picked up by columbia when riverside folded. Song number 6 was actually dubbed from an LP which doesn't give you the best sound quality.