This album “Worktime” was considered to be one of Sonny Rollin’s best album but then again, they are all great. It’s amazing how much this man has done for Jazz and is still around playing now at the ripe age of 82! If you listen very close, you will hear his favorite Coleman Hawkins, throughout his music. Checkout the schedule link for play times, enjoy!
About the Album:
Rollins and Roach also worked off of each other to great effect on “Raincheck,” trading fours on this imaginative selection from the Billy Strayhorn catalog. Even on the more relaxed tempo of “There Are Such Things,” Rollins’ exploration of the changes combines a classic tenor’s warm breathy tone with a bebopper’s determination to leave no possibility unconsidered. Pianist Ray Bryant’s playing is also impeccable throughout.
Coaxed out of seclusion in Chicago to replace Harold Land in the Clifford Brown/Max Roach quintet in 1954, this 1955 release was Rollins’ first album as a leader since the conclusion of his first self-imposed sabbatical. Roach is on hand in the drummer’s seat, spurring Rollins along every step of the way……..Read More
Biography of Sonny Rollins:
Theodore Walter Rollins was born on September 7, 1930 in New York City. He grew up in Harlem not far from the Savoy Ballroom, the Apollo Theatre, and the doorstep of his idol, Coleman Hawkins. After early discovery of Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong, he started out on alto saxophone, inspired by Louis Jordan. At the age of sixteen, he switched to tenor, trying to emulate Hawkins. He also fell under the spell of the musical revolution that surrounded him, Bebop.
He began to follow Charlie Parker, and soon came under the wing of Thelonious Monk, who became his musical mentor and guru. Living in Sugar Hill, his neighborhood musical peers included Jackie McLean, Kenny Drew and Art Taylor, but it was young Sonny who was first out of the pack, working and recording with Babs Gonzales, J.J. Johnson, Bud Powell and Miles Davis before he turned twenty.
“Of course, these people are there to be called on because I think I represent them in a way,” Rollins said recently of his peers and mentors. “They’re not here now so I feel like I’m sort of representing all of them, all of the guys. Remember, I’m one of the last guys left, as I’m constantly being told, so I feel a holy obligation sometimes to evoke these people.”
In the early fifties, he established a reputation first among musicians, then the public, as the most brash and creative young tenor on the scene, through his work with Miles, Monk, and the MJQ………Learn More
