This album is a real beauty with hard hitting improvising from a quartet of legends, showcasing Sonny Rollins and Kenny Dorham. A perfect example of raw hard bop jazz from when it started and with a little leftover bebop to boot! The name of the album is “Moving Out” and will be featured here on Jazz Con Class for about two weeks and then respectively placed in the Hard Bop Playlist. Check the Schedule link for play time and ENJOY!
Following on the heels of his magisterial work with Miles Davis on BAGS’ GROOVE, Sonny Rollins entered Van Gelder Studios with a fire-breathing quintet on August 18, 1954, resulting in four of the five selections which make up MOVING OUT. This session might just as well have been titled “Busting Out,” because MOVING OUT represents a breakthrough for Rollins as a bandleader and an improviser.
Rollins really stretches out on the title tune and “Swingin’ For Bumsy,” playing with a new-found rhythmic command and melodic authority–spreading his wings and flying with Bird-like harmonic declamations, and a dramatic flair all his own. The oft-neglected Kenny Dorham proves a brash soaring foil, but it is the legendary pianist Elmo Hope who really arouses the Heath Blakey axis. Hope’s dense, dancing accompaniements prod the soloists into uncharted waters, while his limber, sprawling improvisations represent a singular school of modern piano, occupying a space somewhere between Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. On the ballad “Silk N’ Satin,” Hope’s brief interlude provides a dark spiritual contrast to Rollins’ romantic yearning, while his blues shouts and broad harmonic brushstrokes on “Solid” inspire Rollins to really dig in and shout……Learn More
