Vintage Sonny Rollins On Impulse

Among the two LPs on one CD reissues that mark 50 years of Impulse is Sonny Rollins’ On Impulse/ There Will Always Be Another You. The two albums were both recorded in 1965, with On Impulse a studio recording that was his first release for the label while There Will Never Be Another You was a live recording from a performance at new York City’s Museum of Modern Art that was not released until 1978. Drummer Mickey Roker is on both recordings. On Impulse also had Ray Bryant on piano and Walter Booker on bass, while pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Billy Higgins (along with Roker) were on the live Museum of Modern Art recording which took place a few weeks prior to the studio session.

Also common to both recordings was renditions of On Green Dolphin Street, and Three Little Words. The live rendition of the former number being preferred to these ears as Rollins’ tenor sounds a bit sour opening On Impulse. This isn’t to dismiss the performance as it grows stronger during the improvisation. Highpoints on this studio date include the moody Everything Happens To Me which is ideal material for his thematic explorations; and a Rogers and Hart standard Blue Room.

The live rendition of On Green Dolphin Street sounds more energetic (perhaps because of the two drummers). There is splendid Tommy Flanagan on this and then the performance segues into the live Three Little Words. Here Rollins is first unaccompanied, then the drummers join and are followed by piano and bass on the briskly paced rendition. Mademoiselle de Paris is a brief waltz followed by the lovely To A Wild Rose, which he co-authored and then this performance concludes with a very lengthy treatment of the title track.

Rollins playing is superlative throughout, although he sounds off-mike at times and the drums may be a tad too prominent and sound boxy. This may account for why this was not issued until over a decade later. Despite the sound, Rollins and Flanagan especially are terrific throughout this. There is so much classic Sonny Rollins and this contains more very good Rollins.

My review copy was sent by Jazz & Blues Report for whom this was originally written. Here is Sonny Rollins being honored by President Obama as part of the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors.

Sonny Rollins' Birthday Celebration Centerpiece of Road Songs Vol. 2

One of the most celebrated jazz concerts of the past couple years was the 80th Birthday celebration of Sonny Rollins in New York City. Performances from that concert form the core of Rollins’ second compilation of live recordings, Road Songs Vol. 2 on his Doxy label (Doxy/Emarcy). Four of the six selections come from that September 2010, Beacon Theatre concert with the other two performances coming from Japanese concerts, less than a month later. Most of the performances feature Sonny’s band of the time with Russell Malone on guitar, Bob Cranshaw on bass, Kobie Watkins on drums and Sammy Figueroa on percussion with one track having a historic collaboration.

Opening up is a rendition of Irving Berlin’s They Say It’s Wonderful, which has a nice solo from Malone after Rollins introduces the theme. Its a typical performance that fans of Rollins live performances from the last few years will be familiar with and centers around the trading of fours with drummer Watkins. It is followed by Sonny introducing Jim Hall with Hall performing (without Sonny) In a Sentimental Mood. If a wonderful performance, it is odd that an actual collaboration between Rollins and Hall is not present on this Sonny Rollins album.

The blues, Sonnymoon For Two, with the rhythm section of Christian McBride and Roy Haynes, was the historic meeting of Rollins with Ornette Coleman, who Rollins teases the audience about as a special birthday guest after his initial solo in a trio vein, and after initially asking him to come out takes another solo before Coleman comes out and the contrast in styles and how a solo is constructed between his approach and Rollins will be immediately evident and not simply because he is playing alto sax. While the interest of the meeting on stage by the two, the performance strikes this listener as a string of a unconnected solos based on Rollins’ blues composition, with some interchanges between the two and some inspired playing from Rollins later in the performance but as a whole this sounds more interesting than it sounds magical.

I Can’t Get Started opens with Roy Hargrove opening and playing exquisitely before Sonny enters on this ballad with his robust tone providing a counterpoint to Hargrove’s lyricism. It is followed by a lively Raincheck from Billy Strayhorn’s songbook, taken at a lively tempo with a calypso-tinge. Hargrove is bright and incisive here with the two trading fours starting about two-thirds of the way through this performance.

An abbreviated performance of St. Thomas concludes this recording. The editing of the performances is seamless and it comes off to the listener as one concert even though it mixes performances from three concerts, and the order of the Beacon Theatre performances is not in order of performance. The performances sound representative of the performances by Sonny Rollins I have seen over the past few years (thankfully without the sound issues that plagued the first third to half of recent Kennedy Center performances). It is certainly welcome to have this available even if I might suggest other Rollins recordings of live performances of the past decade a bit more consistent and magical. I specifically point to Without A Song - The 9/11 Concert.

I purchased this CD as a download.

Joe Williams Always Had a Good Time

The late Joe Williams was one of the great male big band singers from his association with Count Basie, and later remained an extraordinary vocalist of blues, ballads and standards. The following review appeared in the January-February 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 279). I likely received my review copy from that publication

Hyena has just issued a posthumorous release by the great Joe Williams, Havin’ a Good Time! Recorded at Pio’s in Providence, Rhode Island in the snowy winter of 1964, this tape was among the items that the Estate of Joe Williams gave the Hamilton (NY) College jazz Archive.


This is a club recording the great blues and ballad singer backed by the Junior Mance Trio (Bob Cranshaw on bass and MIckey Roker on drums) with Ben Webster joining the proceedings. Sound is generally good with Williams’ voice and Webster’s sax having a definite presence in the mix. The backing trio can be felt if not as prominent listening to this, although Mance has plenty of space for his strong, bluesy piano playing.

There is a real nice mix of material opening with Duke Ellington number Just a Sittin’ and A Rockin’ , using the lyrics of the Delta Rhythm Boys 1946 rendering of this number and a nice song for Webster who took the solo on Ellington’s original. Its followed by Kansas City Blues, Williams’ rendition of the Pete Johnson-Big Joe Turner blues classic, Piney Brown Blues, with Williams pointedly saluting the Boss of the Blues in his intro. While not sure he knew all the words of the standard That’s All, Williams more than gamely handles it for the request of the audience member who braved the blizzard conditions for the show. Also on the program are a couple of Fats Waller classics, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Honeysuckle Rose, some other standards and Williams’ hit Alright, Ok, You Win.


I suspect the presence of Webster is a factor in the release of this material which is a welcome addition to Williams discography. This is a release that is consistently enjoyable, if perhaps not an essential release. It does lead to anticipation of further releases of Williams recordings from the Hamilton College Jazz Archives.

Sonny Rollins Forever

Sonny Rollins Forever. That was what my T-Shirt that I purchased the last time I saw him at the Kennedy Center says. Last night I had a chance to see him at this year’s Montreal International Jazz Festival (Festival International de Jazz de Montreal) where he performed Sunday, June 27 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, PdA, as part of Les Événements spéciaux TD series. Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier is the largest all-purpose concert hall in Canada and the site of the Festival’s major ticketed concerts.

Rollins had a somewhat different band than he had in Washington at the Kennedy Center. First of all, his nephew trombonist Clifton Anderson was not present and also Russell Malone was his guitarist. On electric bass was his long-time associate, Bob Cranshaw, however I did not make out the names of the drummer or percussionist. I could not identify the opening calypso number and while the sound was a little echoey during it, it was not nearly as bad as the two shows I saw at the Kennedy Center within the last three years and by the end of the first song the sound was much better. Maybe because I was sitting in the lowest balcony as opposed as mid-floor as in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, the sound sounded better, or maybe the sound engineers in Montreal were simply better.

After the opening number, Sonny led us into a marvelous rendition of the ballad “My One and Only Love,” with a somewhat warmer tone than hard, husky tone employed on the opening number. Guitarist Malone was his equal here, responding with lines that at times recalled Jim Hall and John Scofeld. During the set he also effectively comped during one of Cranshaw’s solos. Up next was a marvelous rendition of “Global Warming,” which gave everyone an opportunity to shine and then another marvelous ballad, “Serenade,” from his most recent studio album, “Sonny Please.” After another exhilarating romp, Sonny launched into the blues, a bit of honking before singing about his low-down baby and her evil ways and then a short R&B-ish solo and they were done. Perhaps not as good as the late Dexter Gordon singing “Jelly Jelly,” it was perhaps a nod to Louis Jordan who I believe is an influence.

Despite the enthusiastic cheers of the audience, the band did come back for a curtain call but there was no subsequent encore. It was a superb 75 minutes of Sonny Rollins and as he turns 80, one enjoys every opportunity to see the master. Sonny Rollins Forever indeed.