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Happy 90th birthday to the greatest of them all -- @sonnyrollins. I have no bigger hero in or out of jazz. In his honor here& #39;s a playlist of 25 brilliant live performances that span nearly 50 years, from 1957-2006.
Happy 90th birthday to the greatest of them all -- @sonnyrollins. I have no bigger hero in or out of jazz. In his honor here& #39;s a playlist of 25 brilliant live performances that span nearly 50 years, from 1957-2006.
2. Caveat: Some of my absolute favorite performances --"Remember" from Newport in & #39;63; an epic 48-minute version of "Four" & 32-minute "Three Little Words" captured in Copenhagen in & #39;68 -- are not on YouTube. But what& #39;s here is choice. Like Bird, the best Sonny is live Sonny .
3 “Bye, Bye Blackbird” w/Miles Davis 5qt, Café Bohemia, NY, 7/27/57. Fun to hear Miles in this era with Sonny rather than Trane. Sonny sounds a bit sassy here, and he& #39;s seriously swinging. Red, PC. Art Taylor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TwQwy8Hdmk">https://www.youtube.com/watch... (Note: Tape is running 1/2 step fast.)
4 "Old Devil Moon,” Village Vanguard, NY 11/3/57 Wilbur Ware/Elvin Jones. Favorite track from my all-time favorite LP. Dazzling flow of spontaneous & witty melodic/rhythmic rhyme from greatest standards player ever. The trio is as flexible as a rubber band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlHRiJfhYj0">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
5 "Striver’s Row,” Village Vanguard, NY, 11/3/57. Wilbur Ware/Elvin Jones. A romp through the changes to "Confirmation." Almost as good as "Old Devil Moon." Sometimes I think it might be better. Still sounds state-of-the-art 63 years later. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQntyoRDLzI">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
6 “Woody ‘N You,” Aix-en-Provence, France, 3/11/59 Henry Grimes, Kenny Clarke. The chiseled strength of Sonny& #39;s sound, his relentless intensity, and indefatigable stamina all foreshadow his work in the & #39;60s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iy2ea8AbVM">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
7 "St. Thomas,” Nalen, Stockholm, Sweden 3/2/59 Henry Grimes, Pete La Roca. A crackling performance full of thematic ideas and surprising twists like the slip-sliding out of key at 2:16 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAd9PWNW0k">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
8 "Without a Song," Playboy Jazz Fest, Chi, 8/9/59, Bob Cranshaw/Walter Perkins. Sonny& #39;s last gig before his sabbatical & 1st gig w/Cranshaw. Dig Sonny& #39;s spur-of-the-moment modulation coming out of his solo tenor cadenza & how Cranshaw is all over it. https://youtube.com/watch?v=y_6qiYqti6c">https://youtube.com/watch...
9 “If Ever I Would Leave You,” Ralph J. Gleason& #39;s "Jazz Casual" (television). 3/23/62. Sonny stretches out on TV. Imagine seeing this in real time when it aired. Thematic improvisation, ecstatic rhythm and a bellowing tone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iPMqJuGQes">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
10 "Oleo," Village Gate, NY, 7/27/62. Sonny’s landmark LP “Our Man in Jazz” introduced the most challenging band he ever led, w/ Don Cherry, Cranshaw, Billy Higgins. A tour de force, "Oleo" shows how it balanced abstraction & form. Loose but anchored. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX7eGVuCbFw">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
11 "Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” Village Gate, NY, 7/28/62. Beyond "Our Man in Jazz," RCA recorded 350 (!) additional minutes at the Gate never officially released. What a nutty song choice this! (I. Berlin, 1911.) Great interplay between Sonny & Cherry
. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRcD2E6QVDc">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRcD2E6QVDc">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
12 "Everything Happens to Me, Paris," Paris, 1/19/63. Lots of European bootlegs of Sonny w/ Cherry, Grimes, Higgins in ’63, tho hard to find pitch-corrected versions. This one sounds just a little flat. Muscular, unsentimental but affecting ballad playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhQmA6Ix00s">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
13 "All the Things You Are," Newport Jazz Fest, 7/7/63. Hawkins/Bley/Grimes/McCurdy. The live meeting between Sonny & Hawk is far more electric than the studio recording a week later. Bley & Sonny had a connection. Super loose but still playing the tune. https://youtube.com/watch?v=0mjpIXnaqRw">https://youtube.com/watch...
14 "Mack the Knife," Tokyo, 9/19/63. Sonny& #39;s only other live performance with Paul Bley that’s surfaced on tape beyond Newport. The wildest "Mack the Knife I know. Unless it’ a pseudonym, this is the only recording of Cherry-like trumpeter Reshid, Kmal Ali. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8RY85cE3oE">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
15 "Oleo/Sonnymoon For Two/Darn That Dream,” Copenhagen, 10/31/65. Top-shelf Sonny. he three minutes of improvisation starting at 26:48 amounts to the most greatest soloing over "I Got Rhythm" that I know. Definition of jazz: Sonny Rollins and a good trio ">https://youtu.be/SPlRHwhlv...
16 “I Can’t Get Started/3 Little Words/St. Thomas)/There Will Never Be Another You,” Paris 11/4/65. Gilbert Rovere/Art Taylor. Most inspired Sonny on film. Olympian authority understates the case. Almost everyone else in jazz sounds like child after this. http://saxonthetube.blogspot.com/2014/10/sonny-rollins-live-in-paris-on-november.html">https://saxonthetube.blogspot.com/2014/10/s...
17 "Will You Still Be Mine," London, TV broadcast taped, 11/6/66 (“Jazz Goes to College: Sonny Rollins/Max Roach.") I& #39;d LOVE to see the video of this reunion with Max. Sonny catches fire on "Will You Still Be Mine." Also with Ronnie Mathews/Jymie Merritt. ">https://youtu.be/B6mjjtC2j...
18 "Naima", Copenhagen, 9/6/68, Drew/NHOP/Heath. From one giant to another, a heart-rendering farewell to Coltrane a year after his death. Sonny stays close to the melody. The only recording of him playing Trane& #39;s anthem. Did he play it on other gigs? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwy692YoeR0">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
19 "Love Letters," 1973. I& #39;m not sure of the location. I wish the guitarist would shut up -- he& #39;s just cluttering up the works, but, Sonny doesn& #39;t seem to care -- he& #39;s burning. Great little solo cadenza too. Always liked drummer David Lee& #39;s groove. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LMHqAazg44&feature=youtu.be&t=125">https://www.youtube.com/watch... https://www.youtube.com/watch...
20 "Autumn Nocturne," San Francisco, 4/78. Sonny goes it alone for more than 4 minutes of dazzling a cappella improvisation. A bright spot among Sonny& #39;s often disappointing official releases in the & #39; 70s and early & #39;80s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzbWn9GIZ8Y&fbclid=IwAR32ytqg4GAWbyhb3rgXCDtBL4cWvuSMc-uBavXB_MFkr1r981iKByGMb1c&app=desktop">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
21 Untitled solo, Tonight Show, 1979. I still can& #39;t believe that Sonny played a 6-1/2 minute a cappella solo on national TV. (Guest host Bill Cosby made it happen.) I heard about this not long after it happened and then waited 35 years to actually see it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPCBqSy3lwk.">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
22 "I’ll Be Seeing You, Montreal," 6/82. Sonny sings the hell out of the tune, before launching into five minutes-plus of trading with Jack DeJohnette. Punch & counter-punch. Some of Sonny& #39;s purest bebop lines since the & #39;60s flow from his subconscious ">https://youtu.be/0M2uoTj8n...
23 "My One and Only Love," Montreal, 6/82. Same concert as above. Beautiful ballad playing -- Sonny plays songs as if he really loves them. Plus, another brilliant cadenza. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=FxpRNju_Bkw">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
24 East of the Sun , Copenhagen, 5/27/85, with Mark Soskin, Bobby Broom, Victor Bailey, Tommy Campbell. Not a band build for swinging, but Sonny just powers through the clutter and clunk in chorus after chorus. Such a joyful improviser! ">https://youtu.be/sJURC9hPn...
25 “Best Wishes,” Tokyo, 5/25/86. Paced by Al Foster& #39;s driving drums, Sonny turns in what for me is his most exciting & inspired playing on the "Road Shows" compilations. Amazing how he keeps foregrounding the tune, spinning his variations off the melody. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2DxNlq5J8">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
26 "G-Man,” Saugerties, NY, 8/16/86, with Soskin, Cranshaw, @TheRealSmittone Another track where Sonny never gives up the ball. Fifteen minutes of brisk and glorious G dominant 7. Go, man! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7VLoVhgcII">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
27 Coda: Let me interrupt the playlist to note that the Saugerties concert is the one where Sonny jumped off a ledge mid-tune, ended up breaking his ankle, yet continued to play. Here& #39;s film of that remarkable episode. Talk about staying in the moment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgJ-RkyiG3o&feature=youtu.be&t=84">https://www.youtube.com/watch... https://www.youtube.com/watch...
28 "Someday I’ll Find You," Toulouse, 5/15/06. Sonny revives Noel Coward& #39;s waltz nearly 60 years after first recording it in & #39;58. After Bobby Broom& #39;s guitar, Sonny improvises for eight minutes. Energy & inspiration never flag; he keeps finding another gear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeRD5ZrF8is">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
