Once upon a time in the West–yes, Cannonball Adderley and Jose Feliciano guest-starred as two traveling musicians on the 1970s TV show Kung Fu, carrying their respective alto sax and guitar through the dusty milieu of the American frontier (do not ask, grasshopper, if this was a frequent instrumental combination in the Wild West of the 1870s). You can look and listen in the filmography section of the Cannonball Adderley website. The episode, “Battle Hymn,” aired on February 8, 1975, just a few months before Cannonball’s death at the age of 46.
Here’s Cannonball in a brief musical-jam clip with David Carradine and Feliciano:
More here.
Thanks to Detroit Free Press writer Mark Stryker and saxophonist/writer Jim Sangrey for their mention of this over at the Organissimo jazz discussion board.
