Blogcritics: Comments on The Best of Sonny Rollins

Comment by Eric Olsen

Tue, 28 Sep 2004 14:57:02 EDT

btw, the Nisenson bio is excellent

Comment by JR

Tue, 28 Sep 2004 14:42:43 EDT

There's something wrong with the session credits in The Complete RCA Victor Recordings, isn't there? I don't remember the specifics, but it seemed to me that some of the tracks had different instrumentation than what was listed in the booklet. Plus the session dates were confusing; I mean, there's no law that says they have to put "Complete Recordings" in chronological order, but I couldn't make sense of the sequence in this set. The music is interesting, though. A nice variety of accompaniment. I think I like some of his earlier and later stuff better, but I could change my mind at some point.

Comment by Mark Saleski

Tue, 28 Sep 2004 11:52:03 EDT

it's also worth seeking out his solo recordings (there's one called "Solo Album" for instance).

Comment by Tom Johnson

Tue, 28 Sep 2004 11:37:41 EDT

Rollins is awesome. One of my few truly prized musical possessions is the 6-CD The Complete RCA Victor Recordings boxset that I stumbled upon a few years back in near-mint condition, for $35! You can imagine my worry when, shortly after my wife and I moved into our house I realized that disc 5 had gone missing during the move, and I presumed it was lost forever. Last summer while digging through some boxes I found that disc nestled safely among a bunch of stuff I was going to throw out and, amazingly, it came out unscathed. Big sigh of relief.

Comment by JR

Tue, 28 Sep 2004 10:49:02 EDT

Reasons for his relative obscurity outside of jazz include the fact that Rollins has never been strongly identified with a given jazz movement (as are Goodman with swing, Gillespie and Parker with bebop, and Coltrane with free jazz late in his career), nor has he extended his personality outside of jazz as have Armstrong, Davis, Gillespie, and Holiday. On the other hand, none of those other musicians recorded with the Rolling Stones.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Tue, 28 Sep 2004 07:55:31 EDT

thanks GDG, I agree entirely that there is all kinds of great stuff scattered throughout his recording career, including his latest album This Is What I Do - the '50s was the foundational period where he staked out his terrain, and that's usually what is remembered the longest.

Comment by godoggo

Mon, 27 Sep 2004 23:43:17 EDT

Sonny's my absolute favorite of favorites. I think the '56-'58 period was certainly his most consistent, (and actually I think that during this time he did many albums that were completely satisfying from beginning to end), but later stuff just as great when he was on. One favorite of mine from the '60s (I'd say he was still pretty consistent through, oh, '63 or so) is Sonny Meets Hawk (quite a bit more avantish than one might expect). In recent years he's taken the attitude that albums are just a way to promote performances, and he doesn't much like recording anyway - this aside from some questionable directions - so his recordings have gotten to be pretty erratic. Still, there are always those times when he catches fire, and it would be possible to make a pretty amazing compilation even of post-'60s tracks.