Sonny Rollins Tenor Saxophone
Clifton Anderson - Trombone
Bobby Broom - Guitar
Bob Cranshaw - Bass
Steve Jordan - Drums
Kimati Dinizulu - Percussion
Influences
For more info about his new DVD, Sonny Rollins in Vienne, and his new CD, RoadShows, Volume 1 please visit his website Sonny Rollins Official Website
Sounds Like
Expectations run very high at Sonny Rollins concerts, for both audiences and the saxophonist himself. Considered jazz’s greatest living improviser, Rollins seizes the opportunity offered by each live performance to search for his “lost chord”; his audiences await nothing short of transcendence.
An extraordinary double dose of Rollins in concert is due on October 28, when the tenor saxophonist’s Doxy Records label (distributed by Emarcy/Universal) will release a new live CD compilation entitled Road Shows, vol. 1 as well as a DVD (Live in Vienne) of a 2006 European festival performance.
Road Shows is the exciting inaugural release in a planned series of outstanding live Sonny Rollins recordings from the last 30-plus years. The seven tracks on the new CD, culled from the Carl Smith collection and Rollins’s own personal soundboard tapes, were recorded in the U.S., Canada, Poland, Japan, France, and Sweden. Featuring the saxophonist with a variety of sidemen—including, on one track, the Christian McBride–Roy Haynes trio that appeared with him at his 50th Anniversary Carnegie Hall concert in 2007—Road Shows captures the Saxophone Colossus in full flight, dazzling audiences around the world.
Live in Vienne was produced by French television and offers an up-close glimpse at Rollins onstage—in high-definition video—as he unfurls a superb hour-long set before a euphoric crowd at the 2006 Jazz à Vienne Festival. The saxophonist, who famously spent two years (1959-61) practicing on New York’s Williamsburg Bridge, above the East River, finds that “playing outside is always great. But Vienne, with its Roman amphitheater, is a particularly photogenic place, a beautiful venue. The little town is on the Rhône River. And it was warm that night—just perfect weather.”
In the late 1980s, Rollins began to record many of his concerts for archival purposes with possible future release in mind, and also to circumvent bootlegs, which have been a long-standing problem for the artist. “I was much less intimidated by the tape at live concerts” than in the studio, he admits. When the tape was always rolling, “it was much easier for me to get a natural performance.”
From the start the intention was to record all of Sonny’s concerts. Due to unforeseen technical problems or permission problems with venues, however, it was not always possible, according to Road Shows producer (and Rollins trombonist) Clifton Anderson. Of the approximately 600 concerts Rollins has performed since the late ’80s, Anderson estimates that as many as one-third are in their archive, in whole or in part.
“There were performances that at the time they were done, I thought they might be acceptable at a later date in case I chose to release,” says Rollins. “But I hadn’t really listened; I filed it in my mind, and later had to stir my memory as to which ones might be good.”
When the time came to program the new CD, says Anderson, “we both remembered that the concert in Toulouse was a pretty good show, and Sonny remembered that Tama was a good performance, so I went back and listened to those in particular. That’s how we arrived at our choices.”
Four tracks from the Rollins archive are included in Road Shows, vol. 1: “More Than You Know” (2006, Toulouse), which Sonny “brought out of retirement,” not having played it since the 1950s, when he recorded it with Thelonious Monk; “Tenor Madness” (2000, Tama City, Japan), whose last appearance on a Rollins disc was the live G-Man in 1987; “Nice Lady” (2007, Victoria, BC), the first recording of a new Rollins calypso; and “Some Enchanted Evening” (2007, New York City), from his 50th anniversary Carnegie Hall concert with Christian McBride and Roy Haynes.
Road Shows’ remaining three tracks were selected from Carl Smith’s collection—“Blossom” (1980, Umea, Sweden), a fascinating, little-known Rollins original that “came and went pretty fast in the repertoire,” says Rollins; “Easy Living” (1980, Warsaw), from Sonny’s first trip behind the Iron Curtain (“the people were starved for music”); and “Best Wishes” (1986, Tokyo), previously recorded on his 1982 Reel Life album.
For future Road Shows compilations, Anderson and Rollins will have not only their own archives and Carl Smith’s to draw from. “People have also submitted things to us,” says Anderson, “most recently a tape from Keystone Korner in the mid-1970s and a cassette from the Bottom Line. The bands are different, the material’s different; the one common denominator is Sonny killin’ through all of it.”
Hi Mr Rollins, Thanks for the add. It's a great honor to be one of your many friends. Thank you for all the great music over the years. All the best to you and yours. Ray
Thank you for the add. I am a huge Jazz enthusiast and I am fortunate enough to own everything that Sonny ever recorded. It is a pleasure and a privilage to be part of this site.
Hi Sonny Rollins, Thank you for being a friend - it's an honor! You are a wonderful musician and an inspiration! I'm a singer who loves to hear a great sax player whenever possible, and you are great! All good wishes for your health and happiness. Shelley
hi sonny, good to have you in my circle of musical friends. I met you thru some musician friends many yrs ago in SF. Con't sucess. Stay blessed & inspired...~sula~
Dear Master,I wish you all the best in your life,listening your music helps to understand in the fact what the joy is!Thank you for adding me.I'll keep follow your aproach in art of improvisation... Denis
Thanks for joining our circle of friends, and thanks for helping to keep Redd's legacy alive! Billy & Sharon www. reddstewart. com (Pee Wee King and his Golden West Cowboys)
Hi Sonny, Thank you for the add. I saw you in April and that was a great show!!! I hope I get to see you again as that show as well as your music is very inspiring to me. I hope you have a great tour abroad and hopefully I'll see you soon.
Hi Sonny! Thank you for joining my friends on my new "Russian Page" too. I wrote a blog on both pages about my new CD: FLIRTY GERTY Best wishes! Bye, Andrea Bartelucci
Thank you very much for the add Mr Rollins!!! Is an honor to be in contact with the saxophone colossus. My favorite tune is St Thomas. Thanks again. You are the best. Best regards. Luis (sax player) From La Paz - Bolivia
