Reviews

Sonny Rollins’ 1957 masterpiece – Way Out West – needs little introduction. Comprising six tracks, half of them Western-themed, performed by the tenor saxophonist’s trio with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne, it is not only a perfect record and one of jazz’s most iconic albums—those clip-clopping rhythms leading off “I’m an Old Cowhand” and “Wagon … Read More

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Sonny Rollins: Way Out West: Deluxe Edition (Craft)

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Sonny Rollins Trio & Horace Silver Quintet: Zurich 1959 (TCB)

Volume 40 of the Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series is a gem. The disc is divided between Sonny Rollins’ trio and Horace Silver’s quintet, both of which performed and recorded at Radio Studio Zurich on March 5, 1959. Magic was in the air for both sets of quintessential hard bop. Rollins goes first, with bassist … Read More

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Sonny Rollins: Holding the Stage: Road Shows Vol. 4

Sonny Rollins’ most celebrated album of the 21st century is, and may very well always be, Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert. In part that’s because of the dramatic circumstances behind its genesis. Four days after the 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center, which had left him stranded in Downtown Manhattan without electricity, Rollins … Read More

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Sonny Rollins: Road Shows, Volume 3

Our greatest living jazz musician has not made many great records in recent years. That’s why the first two volumes of Road Shows, in 2008 and 2011, were important. They contained previously unavailable confirmation that the rumors and legends were true: that, on occasional magical nights when the muse was with him, Sonny Rollins concerts … Read More

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