3. Cannonball Adderley: “Dancing in the Dark” (Somethin’ Else; Blue Note, 1958)

The Somethin’ Else album gets most of its attention for Miles Davis’ many beautiful contributions (it was his second-to-last sideman appearance ever). But Adderley’s feature, “Dancing in the Dark,” gets the final word on the album’s romance. Let’s not pretend that the considerable reverb engineer Rudy Van Gelder put under him isn’t a part of the allure—but Adderley’s performance, with a big, lush, creamy sound on the alto that threatens to defy the intimacy of the ballad, goes most of the way on its own.