Global Warming - Sonny Rollins

Advantages: Sublime music and musicianship
Disadvantages: None

...This is the original score to the 60s film Alfie, composed and played by Sonny Rollins, one of the greatest tenor sax players. I watched this film several times before really appreciating the score, being so intent on the story and film locations, and later checked yes, it was Rollins playing, and he also wrote it. WHO IS SONNY ROLLINS? If you like jazz you don't need me to provide a biog. Sonny [Theodore Walter] Rollins was born in 1930 in New York, arguably one of the best jazz tenor saxophonists of all time. He was already playing with one of the greats, Thelonious Monk before he was 20, and later performed and recorded with John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey. In 1955 he joined the Clifford Brown / Max Roach quintet. He was known for his improvisations, sometimes highly imaginative takes on relatively moribund... Read review

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Advantages: Hard Bop excellence
Disadvantages: none

...The first two tracks offer a blistering hard bop frenzy. I would pay a full album price just for "eternal triangle", track number two. Sonny Stitt and Rollins complement each other very well and the contrast from Dizzy really pushes this albulm along. This is probably my favourite album at the moment. Sonny Side up is a great upbeat start to the album with some really lovely solos form all three and cool singing from dizzy. The Eternal triangle is a composition by sonny Stitt and it's where the record really takes off. The two tenors start trying to outdo each other and it just builds and builds. This is my favourite track - truely breathtaking. After Hours is a bluesy track with some nice piano. I kno that you know finishes off nicely. A truely great album. Essential.... Read review

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Advantages: no real need to finish it in one go
Disadvantages: only for fanatics really

...NOTE - this is a review of the book (although i believe it has been done as spoken word also.) henry rollins was the vocalist in black flag, possibly the most influential LA hardcore band, from 1981 until their dissolution in 1986. totally at odds with his warped stage persona, he was a fairly insular character, and so chose to keep a journal rather than interact with those around him, and what we have here are his collected entries from about 1983 onwards, along with whatever he can recall about the time prior to that. much like kurt cobain's journals, he didn't originally think this would be published, so nothing is held back (which does mean that there are a few passages which can pretty much just be ignored). he pisses and moans about his bandmates, fans, pretty much everyone he meets apart from ian mackaye (of fugazi, who was... Read review

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