Sonny week

This is Sonny Rollins week because I have tickets to see Mr. Rollins Friday night at Symphony Center, A.K.A. Orchestra Hall, in Chicago with my friends Carl Abernathy, Pat Kuhnle, Kathy Willhoite and Rodd Zolkos, which makes me giddy, giddy, giddy.

In preparation, I am listening to some of the lesser-knowns in my insanely large Sonny Rollins CD collection. Check out "Alternatives" from Bluebird. Make sure it's the one that starts with "Four" and ends with "Jungoso" and offers two takes of each song, except for the latter, which is paired with "Bluesongo." Don't worry, the repeat takes are radically different from each other, a great way to hear why he's the king of the improvisers in my opinion. This also is Sonny Rollins playing free jazz while still remaining Sonny Rollins, a neat trick.

"Moving Out" and "The Sound of Sonny" are from 1954 and 1957 respectively, pre-dating free, so they're more straight ahead but still improvisational candy stores to a big kid like me. Plus you get Monk, Sonny Clark, Elmo Hope, Kenny Dorham, Paul Chambers and Art Blakey on the side, among others.