Sonny Rollins · New to them

New to Rollins

Sonny Rollins played the tenor saxophone for more than six decades, and his records of the 1950s set a standard for the instrument. This path starts with his best-loved album, then moves through his own quartets and trios, a night in a club, a larger band, and records he made in other leaders' groups.

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Start here: the colossus
Saxophone Colossus Sonny Rollins · Prestige PRLP 7079 · 1957
Rollins made this record on June 22, 1956, at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, with Tommy Flanagan on piano, Doug Watkins on bass and Max Roach on drums. He was 25 and playing in the quintet Roach led with the trumpeter Clifford Brown. Four days later Brown and the band's pianist, Richie Powell, were killed in a car crash. The record holds three Rollins tunes, a ballad and a song from The Threepenny Opera. It is the friendliest way in: five tracks, full of melody, with most of what he did well in one place. In 2016 it was added to the National Recording Registry.
Start with
- St. Thomas
- Blue 7
- Moritat
"St. Thomas" grew from a folk song that Rollins's mother sang to him as a child, a nursery tune in the Virgin Islands. "Moritat" is Kurt Weill's melody, better known as "Mack the Knife." "Blue 7" is a long, slow blues. In 1958 the composer Gunther Schuller wrote a whole essay on Rollins's solo here, arguing that he builds it from small pieces of the theme. Listen for those pieces coming back.
In the band
Tommy Flanagan · piano
Tommy Flanagan was 26, a pianist from Detroit who had moved to New York that year. He became one of the most sought-after accompanists in jazz. In 1959 he played on John Coltrane's Giant Steps, and for years he was Ella Fitzgerald's pianist and musical director. From the late 1970s he led his own trios, recording often, until his death in 2001.
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Three tunes the world kept
Bags Groove Miles Davis · Prestige PRLP 7109 · 1957
On June 29, 1954, Miles Davis took a quintet into Van Gelder's studio with Rollins, Horace Silver on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums. Rollins brought three new tunes: "Airegin," "Oleo" and "Doxy." All three became standards, played by jazz musicians ever since. Prestige first issued them on a 10-inch LP, then put them on this 12-inch record, whose other side is Milt Jackson's "Bags' Groove" from a Christmas Eve session that year without Rollins. It comes second because it shows Rollins the composer, and how early Davis saw what he had.
Start with
- Airegin
- Oleo
- Doxy
"Airegin" is "Nigeria" spelled backwards. "Oleo" is built on the chords of "I Got Rhythm," and Davis plays it with a Harmon mute, a sound that became one of his signatures. "Doxy" is the easygoing one. Notice how short each theme is: a few bars, stated clearly, then left behind for the solos.
In the band
Horace Silver · piano
Horace Silver was 25, a pianist from Norwalk, Connecticut. Stan Getz had hired him in 1950, and by 1951 he was living in New York and playing on record dates all over town. In 1954 and 1955 he and Art Blakey led the first Jazz Messengers. From 1956 he led his own quintet, writing tunes such as "Song for My Father" for Blue Note, where he stayed for more than 25 years.
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Clean, and back at work
Work Time Sonny Rollins · Prestige PRLP 7020 · 1956
After the Davis sessions Rollins left New York. In 1955 he went into the federal hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, broke his heroin habit, and then lived for a while in Chicago. Later that year he joined the quintet led by Max Roach and Clifford Brown. On December 2, 1955, he went to Van Gelder's to record under his own name with Roach and the quintet's bassist, George Morrow, plus Ray Bryant on piano. It was his first record as a leader in more than a year, and the title fits. The tunes are mostly standards, from Irving Berlin to Billy Strayhorn, with one of his own.
Start with
- There's No Business Like Show Business
- Paradox
- Raincheck
Start with the unlikely choice: Irving Berlin's "There's No Business Like Show Business," a show tune few jazz players would have picked, opens the record. "Paradox" is Rollins's own. "Raincheck" is Billy Strayhorn's, from the Ellington book. The writer Peter Niklas Wilson called this one of Rollins's most brilliant sessions, and some fans rank it beside the record you began with.
In the band
Max Roach · drums
Max Roach was 31 and already one of the founders of bebop drumming, having played in Charlie Parker's quintet in the 1940s. He became Rollins's most frequent partner of these years, on records for several labels, up to 1958. Roach played the drums as a melodic voice, and he went on leading and composing for five more decades, including the protest suite We Insist! in 1960. He died in 2007.
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Inside the Brown–Roach quintet
Clifford Brown And Max Roach At Basin Street Clifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet · EmArcy MG-36070 · 1956
Rollins took Harold Land's place in the Clifford Brown–Max Roach Quintet late in 1955. This record, cut in New York on January 4 and February 16 and 17, 1956, is the band with him in it: Brown on trumpet, Richie Powell on piano, George Morrow on bass and Roach on drums. Despite the title it was made in a studio; the name comes from a New York club where the group often played. Powell wrote three of the tunes and arranged all but one. Here Rollins is not a guest but a member of a band with its own sound, the setting he worked in through the first half of 1956.
Start with
- What Is This Thing Called Love
- I'll Remember April
- The Scene Is Clean
Listen for the written parts around the solos: Powell arranged all but one track, and Tadd Dameron arranged his own "The Scene Is Clean." This is a band with a book, not a jam session. On the two standards, follow Brown and Rollins as they share the front line. Scott Yanow of AllMusic named it one of 17 essential hard bop recordings.
In the band
Clifford Brown · trumpet
Clifford Brown was 25, a trumpeter from Wilmington, Delaware, admired by other players for his warm tone and his clean, fast technique. He had co-led this quintet with Roach since 1954. On June 26, 1956, driving at night from Philadelphia toward Chicago, he, Richie Powell and Powell's wife Nancy were killed in a crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. His tunes, among them "Joy Spring" and "Daahoud," are still played.
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Two tenors, one blues
Tenor Madness Sonny Rollins Quartet · Prestige PRLP 7047 · 1956
On May 24, 1956, Rollins recorded at Van Gelder's with the rhythm section of the Miles Davis Quintet: Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. John Coltrane, then Davis's tenor player, joined them on one tune. That title track is the only known recording of Rollins and Coltrane together, a long blues on which both solo. The rest of the record is Rollins with the quartet. Coltrane had not yet made a record of his own, so this is a meeting of two players at very different points: one already a leader, one about to become one.
Start with
- Tenor Madness
- Paul's Pal
- My Reverie
"Tenor Madness" is a B-flat blues credited to Rollins, though its melody had been recorded in 1946 as "Royal Roost." Both men solo at length; try telling the two tenor sounds apart. "Paul's Pal" is a Rollins tune named for Paul Chambers. "My Reverie" is a ballad adapted from a piano piece by Debussy.
In the band
John Coltrane · tenor sax
John Coltrane was 29 and a member of Miles Davis's quintet, which he had joined in 1955. He was still finding his voice, and he had not yet kicked his own heroin habit, which he did in 1957. His first record as a leader came out that year. Within a decade he made Giant Steps and A Love Supreme and became one of the most influential saxophonists in jazz. He died in 1967, aged 40.
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Inside Monk's hardest tune
Brilliant Corners Thelonious Monk · Riverside RLP 12-226 · 1957
In October 1956 Thelonious Monk recorded for Riverside with Rollins, Ernie Henry on alto, Oscar Pettiford on bass and Max Roach on drums. The title tune, with sections of uneven length, was so hard that after 25 attempts over four hours no take was complete, and the producer Orrin Keepnews pieced the issued version together from several. A December session added "Bemsha Swing," with Clark Terry on trumpet and Paul Chambers on bass. Rollins had first recorded with Monk in 1953. Here, as a sideman, you hear him working inside music that does not allow easy blowing.
Start with
- Brilliant Corners
- Pannonica
- Bemsha Swing
"Brilliant Corners" has an eight-bar A section, a seven-bar middle and a changed seven-bar A, so even the form trips you up. On "Pannonica," written for his friend and patron Pannonica de Koenigswarter, Monk plays celeste. On "Bemsha Swing" Roach adds timpani. Rollins plays on everything except the solo piano "I Surrender, Dear."
In the band
Thelonious Monk · piano
Thelonious Monk was 39, and his career was about to turn. He had been without a New York cabaret card since 1951, so he could not play the city's clubs, and many critics still treated him as an oddity. This record helped change that. In 1957 he got his card back and began a long stand at the Five Spot, and in 1964 he was on the cover of Time.
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A trio with no piano
Way Out West Sonny Rollins · Contemporary C3530 · 1957
In March 1957 Rollins was in Los Angeles, and Lester Koenig of Contemporary Records set up a session with two West Coast players who had never worked with him: Ray Brown on bass and Shelly Manne on drums. Because everyone was busy, Koenig's notes say, they started at 3 a.m. on March 7 and played into the morning. It was Rollins's first record with only bass and drums behind him. He chose two cowboy songs alongside two of his own tunes and two standards, and William Claxton photographed him in the desert in a Stetson, holding his horn like a pistol.
Start with
- I'm An Old Cowhand
- Wagon Wheels
- Way Out West
With no piano, nothing fills in the chords behind Rollins, so you hear every choice he makes, and Brown's bass carries the harmony alone. "I'm an Old Cowhand" is Johnny Mercer's 1936 novelty song. The title plays on a New Yorker recording out West, with West Coast players and cowboy songs. Scott Yanow of AllMusic heard Rollins at one of his peaks.
In the band
Ray Brown · bass
Ray Brown was 30, from Pittsburgh, and one of the most in-demand bassists alive. He had played in Dizzy Gillespie's band in the 1940s, been married to Ella Fitzgerald, and since 1951 had anchored the Oscar Peterson Trio, where he stayed some 15 years. Here his big, steady sound has to do the pianist's job too. He later became a busy Los Angeles studio player and led his own trios until his death in 2002.
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Blue Note, with two pianists
Sonny Rollins Volume 2 Sonny Rollins · Blue Note BLP 1558 · 1957
On Sunday, April 14, 1957, Rollins made his second record for Blue Note at Van Gelder's, with J.J. Johnson on trombone, Horace Silver on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Thelonious Monk came in to play on his own two tunes. Six tunes were cut and all six made the record: two Rollins originals, two standards and two Monk pieces, one of them with both pianists in the room. It comes here because it puts Rollins beside a second horn of equal weight, in a full hard bop band, with Monk back at his side.
Start with
- Misterioso
- Why Don't I
- Reflections
On "Misterioso," a slow blues, Monk plays the theme and backs Rollins; then Silver takes over behind Johnson and solos, and Monk returns for the close. "Why Don't I" is a light, happy swinger, with Blakey trading fours with the horns. "Reflections" is Monk's ballad, just Rollins and Monk with bass and drums.
In the band
J.J. Johnson · trombone
J.J. Johnson was 33, the trombonist who had shown that his instrument could play bebop at full speed. He had used the teenage Rollins on some of his first record dates in 1949, and Rollins remembered him as a mentor. Johnson had just ended a two-year partnership with the trombonist Kai Winding. He later spent years writing for film and television in Hollywood before returning to playing. He died in 2001.
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Newk, with Philly Joe
Newk's Time Sonny Rollins · Blue Note BLP 4001 · 1959
Rollins's nickname, Newk, came from his likeness to the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe. This record, made at Van Gelder's on September 22, 1957, with Wynton Kelly on piano, Doug Watkins on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums, waited until March 1959 for release, when Blue Note used it to open its new 4000 series. It is a plain quartet date after the more unusual settings, with tunes by Miles Davis and Kenny Dorham beside his own blues. And it holds one of his boldest moves: a whole standard played as a duet with the drummer.
Start with
- Surrey With The Fringe On Top
- Tune Up
- Blues For Philly Joe
On "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" only Rollins and Jones play: no piano, no bass. Listen to how the two of them keep the tune's shape and the beat between them. "Tune Up" is Miles Davis's tune. "Blues for Philly Joe" is Rollins's own, named for the drummer.
In the band
Philly Joe Jones · drums
Philly Joe Jones was 34, from Philadelphia, and the drummer in Miles Davis's quintet from 1955 to 1958, part of the rhythm section you heard on the two-tenor blues earlier in this path. He played on dozens of Blue Note and Prestige dates in these years. He later led his own bands, lived in London and Paris for a few years, and died in 1985.
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Live: one Sunday at the Vanguard
A Night at the Village Vanguard Sonny Rollins · Blue Note BLP 1581 · 1957
On Sunday, November 3, 1957, Rudy Van Gelder brought his machines into the Village Vanguard in New York, with Alfred Lion producing. It was the first record made live at the club. Rollins played the afternoon with Donald Bailey on bass and Pete La Roca on drums, and the evening with Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones. Again there was no piano. Six of the day's 20 takes made the record, five from the evening. Leonard Feather, in the original notes, counts it as the first time Rollins was heard leading his own group before an audience. Here is the trio stretched out, in a room.
Start with
- Old Devil Moon
- Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
- Sonnymoon For Two
On "Old Devil Moon" Rollins improvises for about four minutes before trading fours with Jones. On "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" Ware plays a line under the melody in the first chorus and later takes a long solo. "Sonnymoon for Two" is a simple blues riff that Rollins works over for about five minutes before Ware takes a run of fours.
In the band
Elvin Jones · drums
Elvin Jones was 30, from Pontiac, Michigan, the younger brother of the pianist Hank Jones and the trumpeter Thad Jones. Three years after this night he joined John Coltrane's quartet, where his rolling, many-layered drumming helped shape A Love Supreme and much else. He went on to lead his own band, the Jazz Machine, for the rest of his life, and died in 2004.
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A suite with something to say
Freedom Suite Sonny Rollins · Riverside RLP 12-258 · 1958
On March 7, 1958, at WOR Studios in New York, Rollins recorded a 19-minute piece for trio with Oscar Pettiford on bass and Max Roach on drums. The Freedom Suite fills all of side one; the other side holds four standards from an earlier session. Rollins wrote a short statement for the album about Black Americans, whose culture runs through America's, still being denied their freedom. The label's own notes played the point down, and how the sleeve framed it has been argued about since. Here the trio becomes a way to make a long, serious statement without words.
Start with
- The Freedom Suite
- Till There Was You
- Shadow Waltz
"The Freedom Suite" runs through several sections and moods over 19 minutes, all of it bluesy at the root. Follow how three players hold a long form together with no piano. Then come the short pieces: "Till There Was You," from The Music Man, then only a few months old on Broadway, and Harry Warren's 1933 film song "Shadow Waltz."
In the band
Oscar Pettiford · bass
Oscar Pettiford was 35, one of the first bassists of bebop and the player who made the cello a solo voice in jazz. He had led a bop group with Dizzy Gillespie in 1943 and played in Duke Ellington's orchestra in the 1940s. Later in 1958 he moved to Europe, settling in Copenhagen, where he died in 1960, aged 37.
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After the bridge: Alfie
Alfie (Soundtrack) Sonny Rollins · Impulse! A-9111 · 1966
In the summer of 1959 Rollins stopped performing and spent more than two years practising alone, often on the walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge. He came back late in 1961 and spent the next years trying new bands and new labels. In 1966 he wrote the music for the British film Alfie. The film's score was recorded in London with British players; this album is his own version, cut on January 26, 1966, at Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs with a band of 10 arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson. It reached No. 17 on Billboard's R&B chart, and it leaves you with Rollins in his thirties, still moving.
Start with
- Alfie's Theme Differently
- He's Younger Than You Are
- Street Runner With Child
All six tunes are Rollins's own, written for the film. Nelson set them for two trombones, three other saxophones and Kenny Burrell's guitar, with a rhythm section behind. "Alfie's Theme Differently" is a shorter second look at the main theme. Listen to how the written horn parts sit around Rollins's solos, and compare the sound with the small groups earlier in this path.
In the band
Oliver Nelson · tenor sax
Oliver Nelson was 33, a saxophonist and arranger from St. Louis. His 1961 album The Blues and the Abstract Truth, with the tune "Stolen Moments," had made his name, and by the mid-1960s he was one of the busiest arrangers in New York, writing for Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery among others. In 1967 he moved to Los Angeles to write for film and television. He died in 1975, aged 43.
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