Sonny Rollins · I know them well

Deep into Rollins

This path is for the listener who knows Rollins well. It runs roughly in order, from his teenage sessions in 1949 through his first dates as a leader, sideman work for trumpeters, drummers and a singer, guest spots and odd corners, and ends in the mid-1960s.

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Eighteen, with a tune of his own
J J Johnson's Jazz Quintets J.J. Johnson's Beboppers · Savoy MG 12106 · 1957
Rollins made his first records early in 1949 as a sideman with the singer Babs Gonzales, in a group that included the trombonist J.J. Johnson. On May 11, 1949, Johnson led a quintet session for Savoy with Rollins, John Lewis on piano, Gene Ramey on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums. One of the tunes, "Audubon," was Rollins's, his first recorded composition. He was 18. This 12-inch LP collects Johnson's Savoy sessions from 1946 to 1949, with the Rollins tracks at the end. It is where this path begins: the young tenor, already writing, among the men who built bebop.
Start with
- Audobahn (as Audubon)
- Don't Blame Me
"Audubon," spelled "Audobahn" on some issues, is the Rollins line. "Don't Blame Me" is the 1932 ballad by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. These were made for 78s, under three minutes each, so every solo is short. Listen for the sound of a teenage Rollins next to Johnson's trombone, and for how much he already says in a chorus.
In the band
J.J. Johnson · trombone
J.J. Johnson was 25, the trombonist who had shown that bebop could be played on his instrument with the speed and clarity of a saxophone. He had worked in the big bands of Benny Carter and Count Basie. He hired the teenage Rollins and encouraged him, and Rollins remembered him as a mentor. Johnson went on to lead, compose and arrange for half a century and died in 2001.
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Teenager with Bud and Fats
The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 1 Bud Powell · Blue Note BLP 1503 · 1955
On August 9, 1949, at WOR Studios in New York, Bud Powell led a quintet billed as Bud Powell's Modernists for Blue Note: Fats Navarro on trumpet, Rollins on tenor, Tommy Potter on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. Rollins was still 18. Powell was the most admired pianist in bebop and Navarro one of its finest trumpeters. This LP puts that date beside Powell's 1951 trio session with Curly Russell and Max Roach. It comes second because it shows Rollins, months into his recording life, keeping up with the fastest company in New York.
Start with
- Bouncing With Bud
- Dance Of The Infidels
- 52nd St. Theme
"Bouncing with Bud" is Powell's own, a tune Leonard Feather, in the original notes, heard as full of bounce. Navarro and Rollins open "Dance of the Infidels" with a staccato figure. "52nd Street Theme" is Thelonious Monk's tune, which the little bands on 52nd Street used to open and close their sets.
In the band
Fats Navarro · trumpet
Fats Navarro was 25, a trumpeter from Key West, Florida, with a big, round tone and great control at speed. He had played with Andy Kirk, Billy Eckstine and Tadd Dameron, and he was one of the models for Clifford Brown. Eleven months after this session, in July 1950, he died in New York of tuberculosis, made worse by heroin. He was 26.
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His own name on the label
Sonny Rollins With The Modern Jazz Quartet, Art Blakey And Kenny Drew Sonny Rollins Quartet · Prestige PRLP 7029 · 1956
Rollins's first session under his own name came on January 17, 1951, when Miles Davis, recording for Prestige, persuaded the producer Bob Weinstock to let the young tenor cut a side of his own. Davis played piano on it. In December 1951 Rollins led a quartet with Kenny Drew, Percy Heath and Art Blakey, and in October 1953 he recorded with the Modern Jazz Quartet. Prestige gathered all three on this 12-inch LP in 1956. It shows him finding his feet as a leader between the ages of 20 and 23, writing tunes and choosing unexpected standards.
Start with
- I Know
- Shadrack
- The Stopper
"I Know" is Davis's tune, with Davis at the piano, Percy Heath on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. "Shadrack," a song on the Bible story, is an early sign of Rollins's taste for unlikely material. "The Stopper" is his own, from the session with the Modern Jazz Quartet, with Milt Jackson on vibes. AllMusic's Lindsay Planer called the set a fresh and vibrant baker's dozen.
In the band
Miles Davis · trumpet
Miles Davis was 24, already a veteran of Charlie Parker's quintet and the leader of the Birth of the Cool sessions. He had just signed with Prestige, and he pushed the label to record Rollins, whom he rated highly. Over the next four years he used Rollins on several of his own dates. In 1955 he formed the quintet with John Coltrane that made his name with a wider public.
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A sextet pointing ahead
Dig Miles Davis Featuring Sonny Rollins · Prestige PRLP 7012 · 1956
On October 5, 1951, Miles Davis recorded a sextet at Apex Studio in New York with Jackie McLean on alto, Rollins on tenor, Walter Bishop Jr. on piano, Tommy Potter on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Wikipedia counts it as a move away from the cool sound Davis had explored and toward what became hard bop. The tracks first came out on two 10-inch LPs, then together as Dig in 1956. For Rollins, just turned 21, it was one of his earliest major dates, and it put him beside a younger alto player who would matter for decades.
Start with
- Dig
- Out Of The Blue
- It's Only A Paper Moon
"Dig" is Davis's line on the chords of "Sweet Georgia Brown." "Out of the Blue" is another Davis original, and "It's Only a Paper Moon" the one standard, played without McLean. The tracks run far longer than the three-minute 78s of the day, so the solos have room to stretch.
In the band
Jackie McLean · alto sax
Jackie McLean was 20, a Harlem alto player who as a teenager had been tutored informally by neighbors such as Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. Davis gave him his first big record date here. He went on to play with Charles Mingus and Art Blakey, made a long run of Blue Note records reaching toward free jazz, and in 1970 co-founded the Artists Collective in Hartford, Connecticut. He died in 2006.
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Sideman for Art Farmer
Art Farmer Art Farmer Quintet · Prestige PRLP 177 · 1954
On January 20, 1954, at Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, the trumpeter Art Farmer recorded a quintet for Prestige with Rollins, Horace Silver on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums. Farmer had come east from Los Angeles only the year before. The four tracks first came out on this 10-inch LP and were later reissued as Early Art. It is one of the quieter Rollins sideman dates, and a chance to hear him beside a trumpeter whose lyrical, careful style was very different from his own.
Start with
- Soft Shoe
- Confab In Tempo
- I'll Take Romance
"Soft Shoe" and "Confab in Tempo" are Farmer's own tunes; "I'll Take Romance" is a 1937 film song. The rhythm section of Silver, Heath and Clarke is the same one that backed Rollins on a Miles Davis date that June. Listen for the contrast between Farmer's warm, measured trumpet and Rollins's bigger tenor.
In the band
Art Farmer · trumpet
Art Farmer was 25, a trumpeter born in Iowa and raised in Phoenix, who had worked in Los Angeles and toured with Lionel Hampton before settling in New York. His twin brother Addison played bass. In 1959 he co-founded the Jazztet with Benny Golson, and he later took up the flugelhorn and made his home in Vienna. He died in 1999.
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Last Prestige date, with a singer
Tour De Force Sonny Rollins · Prestige PRLP 7126 · 1958
On December 7, 1956, Rollins made his last recordings for Prestige at Van Gelder's, with Kenny Drew on piano, George Morrow on bass and Max Roach on drums. The same day, Rollins and Roach were also on a Thelonious Monk session. Three of the tunes here are Rollins's, and two are ballads sung by Earl Coleman. The record waited until 1958 for release. The Penguin Guide called it almost as good as Saxophone Colossus. It closes his Prestige years, and it is one of the few Rollins dates of the decade built around a singer.
Start with
- B. Quick
- Two Different Worlds
- Ee-Ah
"B. Quick" and "B. Swift" are Rollins lines, and their titles fairly warn you about the tempos. "Two Different Worlds" and "My Ideal" are Coleman's features; listen to Rollins playing behind and around a voice. "Ee-Ah" is the third Rollins original. AllMusic's Scott Yanow heard him in consistently creative form.
In the band
Earl Coleman · vocal
Earl Coleman was 31, a baritone singer from Port Huron, Michigan, who had sung with the bands of Jay McShann and Earl Hines. In 1947 Charlie Parker insisted on recording him for Dial, and their "This Is Always" sold well. He made his own album for Prestige in 1956 and kept singing for decades. He died in 1995.
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Max Roach in waltz time
Jazz In 3/4 Time Max Roach · EmArcy MG-36108 · 1957
Max Roach built a whole album around three-four time. Six of its tracks were cut at Capitol's studios in Hollywood in March 1957, the same month Rollins made his first trio record in Los Angeles. Kenny Dorham played trumpet, Bill Wallace piano and George Morrow bass; one more track came from New York the September before, with Ray Bryant. Rollins's "Valse Hot," first recorded in 1956, gets a version of more than 14 minutes. AllMusic's Scott Yanow wrote that these performances show jazz need not be in four-four to swing. It shows Roach's band of 1957, with Rollins still in it, keeping to one meter for a whole album.
Start with
- Valse Hot
- Blues Waltz
- The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
"Valse Hot" is Rollins's waltz, stretched out here; compare it with the shorter 1956 version if you know it. "Blues Waltz" takes the blues into three-four. "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" is the Rodgers and Hart waltz, a song Rollins had also recorded on his own quartet date of May 1956.
In the band
George Morrow · bass
George Morrow was 31, a bassist from Pasadena, California, whom Roach hired for the Clifford Brown–Max Roach Quintet in 1954. He played on all that band's studio records and stayed with Roach after Brown's death, so he is on most of the records Rollins made with Roach. He was known as an accompanist more than a soloist, the steady floor under some very fast music. He died in 1992.
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Guest in Kenny Dorham's band
Jazz Contrasts Kenny Dorham · Riverside RLP 12-239 · 1957
In May 1957, at Reeves Sound Studios in New York, Kenny Dorham made a record for Riverside with Hank Jones on piano, Oscar Pettiford on bass and Max Roach on drums. Rollins plays on four of the six tracks; on three, a harpist, Betty Glamann, joins in, including two ballads without Rollins. Dorham and Rollins had been partners in Roach's band, and here Rollins is the guest in a friend's session, playing long solos on standards and on one tune by Dorham and Gigi Gryce. It is a side of 1957 most listeners miss.
Start with
- I'll Remember April
- Falling In Love With Love
- La Villa
"I'll Remember April" runs past 12 minutes, the longest track, and gives every soloist room. "Falling in Love with Love" is the Rodgers and Hart song. "La Villa" is by Dorham and Gryce. Listen to the two horns that knew each other well from the bandstand. AllMusic's Scott Yanow found the album brief but full of memorable selections.
In the band
Hank Jones · piano
Hank Jones was 38, the eldest of three jazz brothers raised in Pontiac, Michigan, and one of the most graceful pianists in New York. He had toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic and accompanied Ella Fitzgerald. In 1962 he played for Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." He was a staff pianist at CBS for years and kept recording until his death in 2010, aged 91.
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Behind Abbey Lincoln
Abbey Lincoln With The Riverside Jazz Stars Abbey Lincoln With The Riverside Jazz Stars · Riverside RLP 12-251 · 1958
On October 28, 1957, at Reeves Sound Studios, the singer Abbey Lincoln made her second album with a band Riverside billed as its Jazz Stars: Kenny Dorham, Rollins, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Max Roach on drums. Lincoln had been a nightclub singer with a glamorous image; this record, produced by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, began to change that. Eric Ajaye of ABC called it the start of a real change in her style. Rollins is a sideman to a voice here, on songs by Billie Holiday, Kurt Weill and Oscar Brown Jr.
Start with
- Strong Man
- That's Him
- Don't Explain
"Strong Man" is by Oscar Brown Jr. "That's Him" is Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash's song from One Touch of Venus. "Don't Explain" is Billie Holiday's, with Wynton Kelly switching to bass. Listen to how the horns frame Lincoln and leave her room; on "Tender as a Rose" she sings with no band at all.
In the band
Abbey Lincoln · vocal
Abbey Lincoln was 27, born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago and raised in Michigan. She had sung in clubs and appeared in the 1956 film The Girl Can't Help It. Through Max Roach, whom she married in 1962, she turned toward jazz and political song, singing on his We Insist! in 1960. She later acted, wrote her own songs, had a strong late career in the 1990s, and died in 2010.
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One on one with Dizzy
Dizzy Gillespie Duets With Sonny Rollins And Sonny Stitt Dizzy Gillespie Duets With Sonny Rollins And Sonny Stitt · Verve MGV-8260 · 1958
Norman Granz's plan was to record Dizzy Gillespie with two tenor players. On December 11, 1957, at Nola Studios in New York, with Ray Bryant on piano, Tommy Bryant on bass and Charlie Persip on drums, Gillespie recorded with Rollins and Sonny Stitt one at a time. The two long Rollins tracks are both Gillespie tunes. A week later the band returned with both tenors playing at once, for a separate album. This one, released in 1958, is the less known half of the pairing: Rollins alone with one of the men who invented bebop.
Start with
- Wheatleigh Hall
- Sumphin'
"Wheatleigh Hall" and "Sumphin'" both run past eight minutes, so there is room for long solos from trumpet and tenor. Listen to how Rollins and Gillespie share the themes and then answer each other's ideas across their turns. AllMusic's review said the highlights are many. If you know the two-tenor session, notice how differently Rollins sounds without a second saxophone beside him.
In the band
Dizzy Gillespie · trumpet
Dizzy Gillespie was 40, the trumpeter who with Charlie Parker built bebop in the 1940s and who led big bands that brought Afro-Cuban rhythm into jazz. In 1956 he had taken a big band abroad on tours sponsored by the U.S. State Department. He kept leading bands and recording for another 35 years, and died in 1993.
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Guest of the MJQ, live
Guest Artist: Sonny Rollins The Modern Jazz Quartet At Music Inn Volume 2 · Atlantic LP 1299 · 1958
On August 31, 1958, at Music Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts, Rollins sat in with the Modern Jazz Quartet, Milt Jackson, John Lewis, Percy Heath and Connie Kay, for two tunes recorded live for Atlantic. Nesuhi Ertegun produced, Tom Dowd engineered, and Gunther Schuller, who wrote a long essay on Rollins that year, wrote the notes. Rollins had recorded with three of these men in 1953, under his own name. It is a rare chance to hear him as a guest with one of the most polished groups in jazz, in front of an audience.
Start with
- Bags' Groove
- Night In Tunisia
"Bags' Groove" is Milt Jackson's blues, and "A Night in Tunisia" Dizzy Gillespie's tune; both run past seven minutes. Listen to how a group known for careful arrangements opens up for a guest with a big tenor sound. If you know Davis's 1954 "Bags' Groove," compare. AllMusic called the record a highlight of the group's career on Atlantic.
In the band
Milt Jackson · vibes
Milt Jackson was 35, a vibraphonist from Detroit nicknamed Bags, and the writer of "Bags' Groove." Dizzy Gillespie brought him to New York in 1945. With John Lewis he was at the heart of the Modern Jazz Quartet from 1952, through a break in the 1970s and on into the 1990s, while leading bluesier dates of his own. He died in 1999.
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The furthest out
East Broadway Run Down Sonny Rollins · Impulse! A-9121 · 1966
On May 9, 1966, at Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, Rollins recorded for Impulse! with the producer Bob Thiele, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums, both from John Coltrane's quartet, and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet for the title track. That track runs more than 20 minutes and fills side one. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz hears in this record "the furthest extent to which he incorporated noise elements into his playing." After it he made no new studio album for six years. It ends the path at an open door.
Start with
- East Broadway Run Down
- Blessing In Disguise
- We Kiss In A Shadow
"East Broadway Run Down" is a long, open Rollins piece; listen for the noise elements the Grove dictionary describes, and for how Garrison and Jones push him. "Blessing in Disguise" is another Rollins original. "We Kiss in a Shadow" is the Rodgers and Hammerstein ballad from The King and I, a calm close.
In the band
Jimmy Garrison · bass
Jimmy Garrison was 32, a bassist raised in Philadelphia who had played with Ornette Coleman before joining John Coltrane's quartet. He is the bass on A Love Supreme, and he stayed with Coltrane to the end, in 1967. Here, with Elvin Jones beside him, Rollins had the engine of Coltrane's band behind his own horn. Garrison later worked again with Jones and died in 1976.
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