Mindblowing work from tenorist Sonny Rollins – a set of recordings that we'd rank right up there with his groundbreaking Village Vanguard sessions for Blue Note!
As with those recordings, the setting here is live, and a trio – Sonny blowing with incredible imagination in the very open space of the tunes, many of which are very long – with accompaniment from the wonderful bassist Henry Grimes on all numbers, and a shifting lineup of very hip drummers – Pete LaRoca on most tracks, sometimes replaced by Joe Harris or Kenny C
larke. The huge package features a wealth of live tracks, including some material that has been bootlegged before – concerts from 1959 in Stockholm, Zurich, Aix-En-Provence, Frankfurt, and Laren – all presented here with superb sound, voluminous notes, and through cooperation with Sonny Rollins himself. Titles include "Lady Bird", "But Not For Me", "Cocktails For Two", "I Want To Be
Happy", "Oleo", "Paul's Pal", "Love Letters", and "I've Told Every Little Star" – but
as always with live Sonny Rollins at this point in his career, it's not the melodies, but what he does with them – which is amazing!
(Limited, numbered box set edition!)