September 11, 2008

Something Else #20: Sonny Rollins


Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins celebrated his 78th birthday this past Sunday.

We saw him play in May 2007 and while most of what we have on our shelves from his legendary career is from the mid-to-late 50s, reading his wiki page makes me curious about his bands in the 1970s/1980s (with electric guitars and more of a funk influence).

The first of these three shows took place about three months before Rollins recorded the classic Saxophone Colossus album. All information is from the respective text files that came with the recordings (FM radio broadcasts):

Sonny Rollins Trio
March 11, 1959
Aix En Provence, France

Woody'n You 15:50
But Not For Me 17:38
Lady Bird 18:35

Sonny Rollins - tenor sax
Henry Grimes - bass
Kenny Clarke - drums

***

Sonny Rollins
Copenhagen Jazz Festival
Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen
Probably November 1, 1965
(or October 31, 1965)

Radio DJ Intro :39
There'll Never Be Another You 11:34
St. Thomas 12:40
Oleo 13:01
Darn That Dream 12:04
Three Little Words 7:03
Outro :23
[First part of "Darn That Dream" is "Sonnymoon for Two"]

Sonny Rollins - tenor sax
Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen - bass
Alan Dawson - drums

***

Sonny Rollins
Half Note, New York, NY
February 11, 1966

(unk) 8:59
Every Time we Say Goodbye/Four 17:42
Sonny Boy/Oleo/Dinah 5:44
I Remember You 6:31
I've Told Every Little Star 7:02

Sonny Rollins - tenor sax
McCoy Tyner - piano
Walter Booker - bass
Mickey Roker - drums
Enjoy!

12 comments:

laura k said...

Thanks!!

Unknown said...

Good shit, man! This is just what I needed to get over the last couple of games. Thanks a ton!

Unknown said...

Oh, I've got something from the 70's or maybe early 80's. It's a live thing with Donald Byrd, and it's pretty uninspired, really. It's a shame, because I really love Donald Byrd's funk stuff from that era. Other than that, I'm really only familiar with 50's and early 60's stuff.

I think one of my buddies played something he recorded with Ornette Coleman in the mid to late 60's, but I don't remember what it sounded like.

Unknown said...

Can someone please explain to me why fans on Yankees Beat site are so disrespectful and jealous of the Tampa Rays just because They finally will be in the playoffs, and their team wont, ..after fourteen years in a row of being there. How about saying Tampa shouldnt even have a team, and their fans support is poor. If the Yankees would stop being allowed to "buy" pennants, maybe the Rest of the country would have a respectable team for once.

tim said...

excellent! something to listen to in the office i'm working at today (and for a couple more weeks)

tim said...

Can someone please explain to me why fans on Yankees Beat site are so disrespectful and jealous of the Tampa Rays just because They finally will be in the playoffs, and their team wont

Answer is right in your post.

nick said...

awesome! Thanks for these.

I would not consider suggesting I'm even in the same galaxy of talent as Sonny Rollins, but I do share a birthday with him. And, on account of that, here's some noises I made that are on the interwebs (I put them there previously):

stars of silent radio - vapor
stars of silent radio - open mind night
(this was done live using a guitar cable run into some effects)

laura k said...

A cool birthday to share!

laura k said...

Can someone please explain to me why fans on Yankees Beat site are so disrespectful

Because they are spoiled brats.

allan said...

Also

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY TO JACOBY ELLSBURY!

Please start being a good baseball player again soon.

laura k said...

Last year's wmtc hbd to LBJ.

Bryon Harris said...

Thanks for offering up some respect for Mr Rollins. He is problably the single closest living link to the roots of bop and thus much of moderin improvised music. He would be in the top 5 people I wish I could shake hands with.