A Night At The Village Vanguard (Remaster) (CD)

"Saxophone colossus" is not a bad description for a tenor player who is one of the greatest living jazz artists. Sonny Rollins made his first record date at the age of 19 in the late 1940s, and unlike Parker and Coltrane, the magnitude of his talent was immediately apparent. After strip-mining the hard-bop vein in the early '50s, he absorbed from Monk the notion of using the melody rather than the changes in his improvising. An urbane, sardonic counterpart to Coltrane's incantatory searcher, Rollins is capable of playing hour-long unaccompanied solos of flawless invention with the most powerful sound ever wrung from a saxophone.

• Category:  Music  »  Jazz  »  Tenor Sax
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: September 14, 1999
• Label: Blue Note Records (USA)
• UPC: 724349979529
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106256338
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #14961 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #791 in Jazz (See Top 100 Jazz Bestsellers)
• #26 in Tenor Sax (See Top 100 Tenor Sax Bestsellers)

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The Rudy Van Gelder Edition of A NIGHT AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD includes an essay by Bob Blumenthal.

Personnel: Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone); Donald Bailey, Wilbur Ware (bass); Pete La Roca, Elvin Jones (drums).

Producer: Alfred Lion.

Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna.

Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, New York, New York on November 3, 1957. Includes liner notes by Leonard Feather and Bob Blumenthal.

Digitally remastered by Rudy Van Gelder.

This is part of the Blue Note Rudy Van Gelder Editions series.

A NIGHT AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD is the sound of an up-and-comer becoming a master. At the time these performances were recorded in 1957, sax giant Sonny Rollins had long since graduated from the bands of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, et al., and had already released his landmark album, SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS. Here he ventures even further into previously uncharted jazz territory, working with only bass and drums, a format that was practically unheard of at the time. He inaugurated the approach earlier in the year on WAY OUT WEST, but this freewheeling live album is where he really explores all its possibilities.

Originally released as two separate volumes, these two sets from A NIGHT AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD are heard together here, and one features bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer extraordinaire Elvin Jones sparring with Rollins, while the other boasts Donald Bailey and Pete LaRoca. On both, Rollins is like a jazz genie freed from a bottle, reveling in the harmonic freedom of this setting via demonic, spiraling riffs and evocative, lyrical moans that roam boldly through different modes, making for one of the most exciting live jazz albums of the '50s (and possibly ever).

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