On Sonny Rollins

Sonny Rollins - Sonny, Please (2006) {Doxy Records 0602517086203}
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© 2006 Doxy Records / Universal | 0602517086203
Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

Most musicians would at least be considering the idea of retirement by the time they reach their mid-seventies, but most musicians aren't Sonny Rollins. After a five-year recording hiatus, Rollins returned from a Japanese tour and took his band into the studio to cut Sonny, Please. It's the first release on his own Doxy label, coming after a monumental 35-year stay at Milestone that produced some of the most forward-looking, trend-setting jazz ever captured on tape.

Dizzy Gillespie brings together tenor saxophonists Sonny Stitt and Sonny Rollins for four extended cuts, and in the process comes up with one of the most exciting "jam session" records in the jazz catalog. While the rhythm section of pianist Ray Bryant, bassist Tommy Bryant, and drummer Charlie Persip provides solid rhythmic support, Stitt and Rollins get down to business trading fours and reeling off solo fireworks. Apparently, Gillespie had stoked the competitive fires before the session with phone calls and some gossip, the fallout of which becomes palpable as the album progresses. On "The Eternal Triangle," in particular, Stitt and Rollins impress in their roles as tenor titans, with Stitt going in for sheer muscle as that most stout of bebop cutters and Rollins opting for some pacing as a more thematic player…

Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins - Sonny Side Up (1957) {Verve 825 674-2}
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© 1957 Verve Records | 825 674-2
Jazz / Bop / Saxophone / Trumpet

Dizzy Gillespie brings together tenor saxophonists Sonny Stitt and Sonny Rollins for four extended cuts, and in the process comes up with one of the most exciting "jam session" records in the jazz catalog. While the rhythm section of pianist Ray Bryant, bassist Tommy Bryant, and drummer Charlie Persip provides solid rhythmic support, Stitt and Rollins get down to business trading fours and reeling off solo fireworks. Apparently, Gillespie had stoked the competitive fires before the session with phone calls and some gossip, the fallout of which becomes palpable as the album progresses.

Sonny Rollins - On Impulse! & There Will Never Be Another You (1965, 1978) {2011 Impulse! 2-on-1 Remaster}
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Genre: jazz | RAR 5% Rec. | Label: Impulse! / Verve | CAT # 06007 5334723 | 2011

This set combines two of Sonny Rollins' LPs for Impulse Records, There Will Never Be Another You and On Impulse!, both of which were originally issued in 1965. There Will Never Be Another You featured the saxophonist playing a live set (in the rain, apparently) with pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Bob Cranshaw, and Billy Higgins and Mickey Roker on drums. Rollins is in fine form, playing standards including a nearly 17-minute version of the title tune.

Sonny Rollins issued only three albums on the Impulse! label, all of them recorded between 1965 and 1966. This volume in The Impulse Story series features three tracks each from Sonny Rollins on Impulse!, Alfie (the music included consists of re-recorded titles he wrote for the score), and East Broadway Run Down. These three albums feature Rollins in a number of settings. The numbers from Alfie were recorded with a ten-piece band arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson. The On Impulse! tunes were recorded with ace drummer Mickey Roker, pianist Ray Bryant, and bassist Walter Booker. East Broadway Run Down features the great saxophonist in the company of Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison, and Freddie Hubbard on the title track. What they all reveal is an artist at the absolute top of his game as an improviser and as a composer. Rollins' star may have shone differently from Coltrane's during these years, but just as brightly. The standout cuts on this set are the the standard "On Green Dolphin Street," "Alfie's Theme," and the stunning 20-plus-minute "East Broadway Run Down," with Rollins blowing further out than he ever had on one of his own records.

Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Sonny Rollins was 35 years old in 1965. With John Coltrane, he was standing head and shoulders above all other contemporary tenor players. At the time of his Denmark 1965 show at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Rollins was between the recordings of what would become Sonny Rollins on Impulse! and Alfie. Active since the late 1940s, Rollins was enjoying well established and deserved international acclaim.