Bopping Sonny

Getting to hear Sonny Rollins play straight bebop is one of the cool things about the Rudy Van Gelder Edition reissue of Blue Note's "The Amazing Bud Powell, Volume One." The 19-year-old Mr. Rollins, on 11 cuts from 1949, was quite good at bop. He plays with some Charlie Parkeresque flashes, on the tenor no less, and gives Powell and Fats Navarro plenty to think about.