Sonny Rollins

Sonny Rollins – Road Shows, Vol. 3 (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:12:52 minutes | 862 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Okeh

If you’re a longtime jazz or Sonny Rollins fan, you’re probably already aware of the Rollins Road Show Compilations of his live performances that he chooses himself. For some live music junkies, there is nothing more satisfying than catching this legend ‘in the moment’ and with Sonny Rollins: Road Shows Vol. 3, this well earned reputation, based on a career that spans 65 years, lives on.

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Sonny Rollins – Moving Out (1956/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 31:39 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Prestige

Moving Out is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, his second for the Prestige label. Recorded in the summer of 1954 but not issued until 1956, most of the songs on this album feature Sonny Rollins and trumpeter Kenny Dorham on the front line, with pianist Elmo Hope, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Art Blakey. The final track, More Than You Know, comes from a different session a few months later with Rollins as the only horn player, backed by Thelonious Monk on piano, bassist Tommy Potter and drummer Art Taylor.

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Sonny Rollins – Alfie (1966/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 33:16 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Verve Reissues

Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins loaned his flair for the dramatic to the score for the film Alfie, accompanying the story of what the liner notes describe as “the involuntary education of a hipster.” Arranged by Oliver Nelson, the soundtrack follows the character’s evolution from the carefree, rakish Lothario of “Alfie’s Theme” to the contemplative, somewhat broken man reflected in “Alfie’s Theme Differently.” Rollins attempts to capture the textures of life through his incisive and energetic playing, his coherent improvisations, and variations on musical themes. While “Alfie’s Theme” and its variants make the most lasting impression, “He’s Younger Than You Are” is touching, laced with regret. And the sensual, relaxed “On Impulse” has a nice sense of immediacy.

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Sonny Rollins – Go West!: The Contemporary Records Albums (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:10:27 minutes | 5,37 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Craft Recordings

Go West!: The Contemporary Records Albums combines legendary Jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ two studio albums for Lester Koenig’s Contemporary Records, Way Out West and And The Contemporary Leaders, with a third disc, Contemporary Alternate Takes.

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Sonny Rollins – Work Time (1954/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 32:55 minutes | 883 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Craft Recordings

With all due respect to the other important tenor saxophonists of the 1950s, Theodore Walter “Sonny” Rollins was the tenor of those times. During the Eisenhower era, Rollins (b. 1930) forged a string of albums that can stand with the sustained work of any major improviser on any instrument. In particular, his recordings for several independent jazz labels, beginning with 1954’s Work Time – released on Prestige, his most frequent recording affiliation during this period.

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Sonny Rollins – Worktime (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) (1956/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 32:47 minutes | 363 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Digital Booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: December 2, 1955 at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ
Remastered: 2008, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

These recordings, made shortly after he came East as a member of the Max Roach-Clifford Brown group, are stimulating as no intoxicant or spirit, but only music can be. Max Roach is fantastic and masterful, as he is everywhere at once but never in the way. This is not “pop” jazz, made palatable for people with weak viscera or none at all. This is jazz. It runs deep emotionally. It gets down to hard swinging without sacrificing thinking.

Sonny’s power, emotionally, rhythmically, harmonically evident throughout – is illuminated clearly in the second chorus of “Show Business” as he flexes his embouchure with just George Morrow’s solid, steady beat walking behind him or in the way he leaps in on Billy Strayhorn’s “Raincheck” off the springboard of Max’s cymbal pattern. Hawk is admittedly one of Sonny’s earlier influences and it is a tribute to Sonny that he has been able to learn from the masters like Hawk and Bird and emerge with a strong personality of his own. (more…)

Sonny Rollins – Tenor Madness (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) (1956/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 35:23 minutes | 215 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Digital Booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: May 24, 1956 at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Remastered:2006, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

By the time this LP was released, Sonny Rollins already had such albums under his name as Worktime and Sonny Rollins Plus 4 in addition to his sideman exploits with the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet. Even the critics who had been slow in recognizing what fellow jazzmen already knew–that here was a young giant in our midst–could not help see the light. Tenor Madness, in which he was joined by the rhythm section from the Miles Davis Quintet, further substantiated and underlined his rapidly rising stature. The material is an effective mixture of Rollins’s playing attitudes with an intriguing original, “Paul’s Pal,” and the mining of unusual material such as “My Reverie” and “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.” And, of course, there is the celebrated title track featuring the two titans to emerge in the Fifties, Rollins and his guest, visiting in the studio that day, John Coltrane.

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Sonny Rollins – Rollins Plays For Bird (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) (1956/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 52:52 minutes | 611 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Digital Booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: October 5, 1956 at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ
Remastered: 2007, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

When Charlie Parker died, people who never had done anything in recognition of his great talent, suddenly rushed to the mourner’s bench and delivered eulogies. This record is by musicians who knew him intimately, appreciated him tremendously during his lifetime and felt his loss far more acutely than any of the self-styled sufferers. This is a simple tribute in the form of a medley composed of seven tunes that were recorded and, for the most part, played often by Parker.

The medley was chosen by Sonny Rollins, the most important saxophonist carrying on and enriching the Parker tradition. Sonny also chose the musicians to help him play the tribute. At the time, the five together embodied the Max Roach Quintet. Leader Roach and Kenny Dorham had played with Parker in his quintets and were well qualified to take part in the tribute. While Wade Legge and George Morrow never worked with Bird, their playing is in keeping with the tenets of the Parker tradition. Oddly enough, the seven tunes are all from the post-1950 Parker repertoire. (more…)

Sonny Rollins – Plus Four (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) (1956/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 32:27 minutes | 341 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Digital Booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: March 22, 1956 in Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Remastered: 2006, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Plus Four was originally released in 1956 on Prestige Records. On this album, Rollins plays with the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet, of which he was a member at the time. The album was the last full recording including pianist Richie Powell and trumpeter Clifford Brown, as both died in a car accident three months later. Although Rollins is clearly the group leader on this date, the style and playing are logical extensions of the fine work being done by the Brown-Roach group on Emarcy Records at the time.

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Sonny Rollins – Newk’s Time (1957/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 34:14 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Jazz
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Front cover | © Blue Note Records

Newk’s Time is Sonny Rollins’ third album for Blue Note Records and was released in 1958. This lesser-known album contains some great renditions of tunes by Miles Davis (“Tune Up”), Kenny Dorham (“Asiatic Raes”), and a couple Tin Pan Alley song interpretations. For fans of hard bop, and especially Sonny Rollins, this album is a ‘must listen’. (more…)

Sonny Rollins – Volume 2 (1957/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 00:40:48 minutes | 1,34 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download  | Source: HDTracks  | Artwork: Front cover | © Blue Note Records
Recorded: Van Gelder Studios, Hackensack, New Jersey on April 14, 1957.

“In preparing these hi def remasters, we were very conscientious about maintaining the feel of the original releases while adding a previously unattainable transparency and depth. It now sounds like you’ve set up your chaise lounge right in the middle of Rudy Van Gelder’s studio!” – Blue Note President, Don Was.

Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 brought together some of the greatest players of the post-bop era. In addition to Rollins, it featured Art Blakey on drums, Horace Silver and Thelonious Monk on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and J.J. Johnson on trombone. This classic record is a must-have for any jazz lover. (more…)