1. Sonny, Please
2. Someday I’ll Find You
3. Nishi
4. Stairway to the Stars
5. Remembering Tommy
6. Serenade
7. Park Palace Parade
Sonny Rollins – Tenor sax
Clifton Anderson – Trombone
Bobby Broom – Guitar
Bob Cranshaw – Electric and acoustic bass
Steve Jordan – Drums (tracks 1-5, 7)
Kimati Dinizulu – Percussion
Joe Corsello – Drums (track 6)
A
new album from Sonny Rollins is an event,
especially now that he is well into pensioner
status. He is a phenomenon on the tenor sax
and, even though he doesn’t come from Texas,
he has that full-bodied tone that characterises
Texan tenorists. He mixes this with Coltrane-like
wildness, salted with some jokey quotations.
He
is also a considerable composer and he wrote
four of the tunes on this CD, starting with
the title-track. It is based on a syncopated
triplet riff, and Sonny’s playing is astonishing
in its power. By contrast, trombonist Clifton
Anderson sounds quite restrained but he makes
a perfect foil for Rollins, combining with
him as a mellifluous front-line pairing. Guitarist
Bobby broom plays some tasteful solos, while
bassist Bob Cranshaw plays absolutely straight,
laying down a solid foundation on which Sonny
can build his intricate constructions. Steve
Jordan contributes some electrifying drumming,
breaking up the beat to add extra spice.
I
love the way that Rollins plays ballads, with
a sort of tough tenderness. He chooses unhackneyed
tunes like Noel Coward’s Somewhere I’ll
Find You and treats them with respect,
adding occasional touches of affectionate
humour. All his ballad performances contain
a vein of tender lyricism.
Rollins’
original Remembering Tommy is particularly
catchy, and on Nishi (another of his
compositions) he makes the saxophone growl
and grunt as if he’s playing rhythm-and-blues,
ending with a berserk outbreak reminiscent
of Roland Kirk. The album ends in calypso
mood, with the sort of Caribbean atmosphere
that Rollins helped to popularize in jazz.
Anderson’s muted trombone flutters attractively,
and Rollins makes a naughty allusion to Swanee
River!
Every
Rollins performance sounds exploratory – avoiding
easy clichés and keeping the listener
alert because you never know what’s going
to happen. Sonny, please – keep on playing
with this level of inspiration, preferably
for ever!
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Doxy
060251 7086203
