BNJ-61014

 Sonny Rollins - A Night at the Village Vanguard Volume 2

Released - February 21,1985

Recording and Session Information

"Village Vanguard", NYC, afternoon set, November 3, 1957
Sonny Rollins, tenor sax; Donald Bailey, bass; Pete La Roca, drums.

tk.3 I've Got You Under My Skin

"Village Vanguard", NYC, evening set, November 3, 1957
Sonny Rollins, tenor sax; Wilbur Ware, bass; Elvin Jones, drums.

tk.6 A Night In Tunisia (evening take)
tk.7 Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (take 2)
tk.11 What Is This Thing Called Love

See Also: BLP 1581 BN-LA-475-H2

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
A Night In Tunisia	Dizzy Gillespie	November 3 1957
I've Got You Under My Skin	Cole Porter	November 3 1957
Side Two
Softly As In A Morning Sunrise	Hammerstein-Romberg	November 3 1957
What Is This Thing Called Love	Cole Porter	November 3 1957

Liner Notes

The ten pop songs and jazz standards in these albums were recorded 18 years ago. Old business, one might say - but since these are unreleased performances by Sonny Rollins, Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones they inevitably create a tremendous sense of anticipation. Even in the flood of mass-produced superstars and technological overkill that has marked jazz in the past few years, it has become increasingly obvious that the music's greatest moments often just happen, as exceptional individuals find themselves in stimulating company and sympathetic surroundings. Thus amidst all of the current space-age hardware and studio sophistication, we hail recently discovered records of Art Tatum, making the rounds in 1941 Harlem; or Charlie Parker, sitting in at Monroe's for a masterful "Cherokee"; or Clifford Brown, jamming at Philadelphia's Bop City the night before his death, as some of the most exciting "new" music of the '70s.

The excitement present when Sonny Rollins made his nightclub debut as a leader at New York's Village Vanguard nearly two decades ago hasn't begun to wear away with the passing years. Here is Sonny, in the midst of perhaps the critical period in his stylistic development, accompanied by two of the most important and daring musicians of the era. Their collective efforts produced one album which was released in 1958 and quickly acclaimed as a masterpiece (A Night At The Village Vanguard, Blue Note -1581). Now we have further documentation of what went down on the afternoon and evening of November 3, 1957.

For those listeners familiar with Sonny Rollins, it's redundant to call this record something special. Martin Williams, while discussing Sonny's 1956 Saxophone Colossus album, observed that "you sense the importance of [the] music immediately;" I would extend that judgment to all of Rollins' work in that period, or, for that matter, to just about anything that Sonny has recorded. Even as a Harlem teenager still not fully committed to a career in music, his 1949 recording debut, with Babs Gonzales revealed Rollins as a commanding, totally identifiable soloist. The leading creators of the time quickly recognized Sonny's talent, for he preceded to work and record with only the best: J.J. Johnson, Bud Powell, Miles Davis (on several occasions, one of which also included Charlie Parker on tenor), the Modern Jazz Quartet and Thelonious Monk. By 1955 Rollins was serious enough about his own importance to remove himself from his native New York for several months of personal and musical purification and evaluation. Late in the year he emerged in Chicago, replaced tenor saxophonist Harold Land in the popular Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet, and returned East to begin a series of classic recordings.

1956 saw the waxing of several Rollins albums for Prestige, the finest being the previously cited Saxophone Colossus. This was also the year of Clifford Brown's tragic death, a loss which catapulted Sonny to the position of star soloist in the Roach band. When Rollins' affiliation with Prestige expired at year's end, he embarked on his most extensive period of recording, employing a wide variety of settings and appearing on several labels. Monk's Brilliant Corners and some trio sessions for Riverside, Way Out West on Contemporary and Sonny Rollins Volume Two (Blue Note -1558) are all Rollins classics recorded in a six-month period ending in June 1957. By this time the critics were acknowledging Rollins as the new giant of the tenor sax, and the public was reacting with similar enthusiasm. - continued Volume 3

-by Bob Blumenthal