A Night In Village Vanguard
Label: BLUE NOTE Catalog: 997952 Format: CD - Disc 1 - 1 A Night in Tunisia - 8:16 2 I've Got You Under My Skin - 10:03 3 A Night in Tunisia [Evening Take] - 9:03 4 Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise [Alternate Take][Live] - 6:43 5 Four - 8:26 6 Introduction - :20 7 Woody 'N You - 8:29 8 Introduction - :36 9 Old Devil Moon - 8:19 - Disc 2 - 1 What Is This Thing Called Love? - 14:03 2 Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise [Live] - 8:03 3 Sonnymoon for Two - 8:46 4 I Can't Get Started [Live] - 4:54 5 I'll Remember April [Live] - 9:20 6 Get Happy [Live] - 9:08 7 Striver's Row [Live] - 5:59 8 All the Things You Are - 6:46 9 Get Happy [Short Version][Live] - 4:38 In 1957, Sonny Rollins was at an early creative peak, already a masterful improviser who could range from hard-bitten bop blues to broad or sly humor, all conveyed with a swaggering virtuosity and bullying warmth. One of the first jazz musicians to develop the extended solo, Rollins would turn tunes inside out rhythmically, often building a solo around complex variations on a tune's melody. The Vanguard recordings come from a period when Rollins found maximum freedom in a trio pared down to the essentials of tenor, bass, and drums, and the multiple takes here testify to his fluent invention. Disc 1 of this set is highlighted by two takes of "A Night in Tunisia," the first recorded at a matinee with bassist Donald Bailey and drummer Pete LaRoca, the second and faster version at the evening performance with regular accompanists bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Elvin Jones. The second CD continues the evening performance with Ware and Jones. It's a uniquely gifted threesome, with each musician seeming to invent new ways to swing, without a note or a musical opportunity wasted. Both Rollins and Ware reveal their relationship to Thelonious Monk in the ability to create complex, arresting music out of shifts in rhythmic inflections. It's especially apparent in the second version of "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise." In this context, Jones has an opportunity to show just how melodic a drummer he was. The two versions of "Get Happy" demonstrate Rollins's ability to make complex and witty music out of the most banal material, while "What Is This Thing Called Love" is a tour de force of sustained group invention. --Stuart Broomer Price: $21.98 |