Tuesday, August 30, 2005

He'll be 75 next month

To me "Autumn Nocturne" on "Don't Stop the Carnival" and the title track on "G-Man" are the gold standards for Sonny Rollins live performances on disk and I'm now going to add the newly released "Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert" to that list. All of it.

"Without a Song," the song and the CD, starts out conventionally and a little slowly, as I thought Mr. Rollins did at his concert in Chicago's Orchestra Hall in April. But that concert turned into one of the legendary Sonny Rollins performances and Mr. Rollins quickly picks it up and bends "Without a Song" to his will. Nice solos by Clifton Anderson on trombone and Stephen Scott on piano as well. (Scott wasn't at the pianoless Chicago concert, but I really like his playing and I've liked it in particular the times I heard him live and on disk with Sonny Rollins, with whom he seems to have a real affinity.)

Recorded at a concert in Boston days after Sept. 11, 2001, a calypso, as in Chicago where it was "St. Thomas," is one of the highlights, this time "Global Warming," which Mr. Rollins takes in all kinds of directions, even introducing strains of Italian folk music at one juncture. Anderson has a good solo (if imperfect, hey it's live) on this, too, as does percussionist Kimati Dinizulu.

Fine ballad performance and a stunning close on "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," which I'm not ashamed to say makes me teary every time I hear Sonny Rollins play it. It's the shortest song on the disk at nearly 11 minutes, meaning there's plenty of room for improvising throughout, and what more do you want in a performance by Mr. Rollins? I've heard him play "Why Was I Born?" plenty, but never quite like the up-tempo run here and, again, Anderson and Scott add excellent solos of their own to a rendition that borders on free jazz in places. "Where or When" is a glorious and unusual session closer.

When I read early raves, I wondered if it was just because it's been four years since we had a new Sonny Rollins CD. Nah, "Without a Song," issued by Milestone/Concord, is just that good. Mr. Rollins was clearly cooking, for a guy in his twenties let alone his seventies, and I think his band knew it and rose to the occasion.

1 comment:

Mr. Greg said...

A beauty of jazz is that it is by its essence different every night. I've seen Sonny Rollins play four times in five years and never heard the same song, even when it was the same song.