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.

CTI Masterworks Reissues Jim Hall's Concierto

As part of the 40th Anniversary of CTI Records, Sony through its CTI Masterworks imprint has reissued a remastered edition of guitarist Jim Hall’s Concierto. This 1975 release had Hall with a group that included Sir Roland Hanna on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Steve Gadd on drums, Paul Desmond on tenor saxophone and Chet Baker on trumpet. It was a collection of swinging, small group performances mixed with a rendition of Concierto De Aranjuez, the Joaquin Rodrigo composition that was a central part of Miles Davis’ classic collaboration with Gil Evans, Sketches of Spain. Don Sebesky, instead of orchestral arrangements, set it up for the sextet on this date.

The result is a solid album of what would have been considered mainstream jazz at the time. This swinging group played with a clean, cool tone perhaps best exhibited by the dry martini alto of Desmond and Baker’s tart, lyrical style thatcomplemented Hall’s own spare and lyrical style. There is almost a cool, chamber music quality to these performances which is not completely surprising given Hall spent time as a member of Chico Hamilton’s unique quintet that included cello and Buddy Collette or Paul Horn.

Cole Porter’s You’d Be Nice To Come Home To, opens with Hall and the rhythm before Desmond enters followed by Baker who provides counterpoint during Desmond’s solo before taking a solo that focuses on his middle-range and continues the melodic qualities of this performance. Hall’s Two Blues is a brisk Hall original with Baker soloing before Hall takes the spotlight mixing single note runs with carefully voiced chords while the lovely The Answer Is Yes, was contributed by Jim’s wife Jane on which Hall’s solo is almost a duet with Carter as Hanna adds occasional chord voicings and Gadd lightly propels the groove.

As indicated, the centerpiece of this album is the sextet rendition of Concierto De Aranjuez. WIth a hint of flamenco in Hall’s guitar, it is followed by Baker, evoking but not imitating Miles, and then Desmond enters with Baker weaving his trumpet around the alto. Obviously the feeling is quite different than provided by the Gil Evans orchestral arrangements with focus no longer simply on the trumpet. The recording is marvelous as with Hanna’s lead, Hall takes the first extended solo backed by the economical and quiet playing by Carter and Baker (along with Hanna’s spare comping) allows one to focus on how he constructs his solo and his deft use of a horn-like tone. Desmond follows with a hint of blues in his dry, songbird tone. Chet Baker’s solo is a bit freer than Miles’ playing on Sketches (which we know today that part of Miles’ solos were actually written parts), and fits the pensive playing of the others. Hanna follows with a solo and then Hall returns. Its captivating listening to the sweet lyricism that this group displays, although the performance does not reach the exhilarating peaks of Davis’ recording or the recent revisiting of it by Harmonie Ensemble New York.

Included on this release are two bonus tracks, the Ellington-Strayhorn Rock Skippin’ at the Blue Note, and the Hall-Carter collaboration Unfinished Business was not on the original release. The former is a delightful quartet performance whose melody seems linked to Just Squeeze Me, while the latter brings out the lyricism of Hall, Carter and Desmond. Alternate takes, but not necessarily lesser performances, of the first three selections are also included to provide over an hour of music. As stated above, this was wonderfully recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, and while the latest Japanese reissues of this material has been remastered by Creed Taylor and Van Gelder and likely may be better sonically, the Sony reissues still sound wonderful. Concierto is an album of straight-ahead jazz that is substantial, quite lovely sounding and still sounding fresh and contemporary.

My review copy was provided by a publicity firm for the release.