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
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]
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
^This indicates to stay on the chord that came before. See: Grid notation
References
^Saunders, Martin Wesley. Nat Adderley (1931-2000) and Work song : an analysis of improvisational style and evolution. OCLC 690253067.
^Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed February 17, 2010.
^Larkin, Colin (2002). The Virgin Encyclopedia of 60s Music (3rd ed.). Virgin Books Ltd. p. 9. ISBN 1-85227-933-8.
^Micucci, Matt (2020-11-25). "Song of the Day: Cannonball Adderley Quintet, "Work Song"". JAZZIZ Magazine. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
^Yanow, Scott. "Oscar Brown, Jr.: Sin & Soul – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
^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. doi:10.1353/not.2014.0108. ISSN 0027-4380. JSTOR 43672881.
^Vaartstra, Brent (2013-05-30). "Work Song". Learn Jazz Standards. Retrieved 2022-08-13.