Sonny Rollins in London

A recent visit to the website of Sonny Rollins revealed that he has available for download four selections from a 1965 performance at London's Ronnie Scott club.

An email I received from Bret Primack, who is webmaster for sonnyrollins.com, noted:

"When Sonny appeared at Ronnie Scott's for one month in January of 1965, he was secretly recorded by someone in the audience.

"Those tapes have been shared by collectors globally, but last year they were released, without Sonny's permission, by a London based record label. All efforts to contact the label have proven fruitless, so instead, Sonny decided to release the music himself.

"Although these tracks are not digitally recorded, they do offer documentation of truly remarkable music. Some of the performances run half an hour and capture Sonny live in a way he's rarely heard on recordings."

In upcoming months additional tracks will be made available for download.