Tenor Madness - 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

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Some of the all time best jazz saxophone ever.
Disadvantages: Some ommissions.

...with this. 9/10. Track 2. Cousin Mary. A ballad of sorts, only faster and he cannot just let lie, he takes a simple upward set of notes on a scale and plays with them, throwing in a note that has gone back down before the scale resumes, brilliant. 9/10. Track 3. Naima. Much slower, almost painfully slow. It is like he pays each note as if it is the only note he is going to play, and then he twists them and plays flats where they just should not fit, and sharps that make you cringe, but with joy. 9/10. Track 4. Like Sonny. Clearly a tribute to Sonny Rollins. I like the way he plays in a lower register here, but for me it is not a 'very best', it would be for 90% of saxophonists, but compared to what else is on this album, this isn't. 7/10. Track 5. My Shining Hour. Very smooth for Coltrane, lots more piano backing, I have to confess... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Fine alto and tenor playing
Disadvantages: One or two bland choices of material

...This is a worthwhile addition to the bebop library, in which Sonny Stitt goes some way to dispelling two popular misconceptions about him: one, that he was just a Charlie Parker clone; and secondly, that his achievements were as a band member or collaborator rather than an outright leader. Stitt does indeed pay his respects to Parker here, quoting from such Parker treatments as "Star Eyes" and "My Melancholy Baby". But this is more of a tribute to the jazz giant in the aftermath of his death than a copycat act. Stitt himself disliked the comparison, and his decision to record on tenor as well as alto sax can in many ways be seen as a piece of self-assertion. He handles both with equal zest and shows he can be delicate one moment, more beligerent the next. To me the best moments on this recording are the three stylish and confident... Read review

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