Magic, mastery and magisterial power: 10 of Sonny Rollins’ greatest recordings

A 30-year-old Sonny Rollins had already made his unique mark with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk by the time this 1956 session was cut, just a year after bebop sax revolutionary Charlie Parker’s death – but hooking up with his contemporary and admirer John Coltrane happened by chance on the two-tenor blues chase of this album’s title. In a vivacious set with the Miles Davis rhythm section of the time (Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums), the leader’s already

Rollins was partnered on this classic set by pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Doug Watkins and bebop-pioneering drummer Max Roach. The calypso St Thomas became a Rollins staple throughout his career, but the long improvisation Blue Seven sketched new parameters for how in-the-moment variations on simple theme-fragments could redefine generations of jazz-making to come. When UK jazz musician Courtney Pine was blossoming as a teenage saxophonist in the early 80s, he would recall that Sonny Rollins’ 1957 recording Way Out West was a key inspiration. The format was a Rollins favourite in his own early years – the demanding setup of a sax improviser with just bass and drums in support, and with unfamiliar west coast partners here. Rollins foregrounded his quirky fondness for cheesy showtunes that could be turned inside out (notably I’m an Old Cowhand), and with bass great Ray Brown and “cool school” drummer Shelly Manne, he produced an improv classic – notably on Come, Gone, which rivalled Saxophone Colossus’s Blue Seven for invention. Mesmerising magic … Sonny Rollins at Vienne jazz festival, France, 2006. Freed from the march of chords by the absence of a pianist, he’s in storming form in the company of rock-solid bassist Wilbur Ware and soon to be legendary Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones, whose rhythmic latitude matches Rollins’ own impetuous phrasing. Standouts are a punchy Old Devil Moon, two versions of Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise, and the saxophonist’s much-covered blues original Sonnymoon for Two. Rollins was never a natural composer – like Miles Davis, he preferred tunes that could be sketched on the back of envelopes. But Freedom Suite was an interesting departure for him, occasioned by the political climate of US race relations and civil rights in the late 1950s, and the impact they were having on African American music. Rollins is partnered here by the A-list rhythm section of bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Max Roach. The saxophonist is magisterially powerful on the 19-minute title track, revealing his sense of how structured and telling an improvisation from minimal materials can be.

Key points

• Rollins was partnered on this classic set by pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Doug Watkins and bebop-pioneering drummer Max Roach.
• The calypso St Thomas became a Rollins staple throughout his career, but the long improvisation Blue Seven sketched new parameters for how in-the-moment variations on simple theme-fragments could r…
• When UK jazz musician Courtney Pine was blossoming as a teenage saxophonist in the early 80s, he would recall that Sonny Rollins’ 1957 recording Way Out West was a key inspiration.
• The format was a Rollins favourite in his own early years – the demanding setup of a sax improviser with just bass and drums in support, and with unfamiliar west coast partners here.
• Rollins foregrounded his quirky fondness for cheesy showtunes that could be turned inside out (notably I’m an Old Cowhand), and with bass great Ray Brown and “cool school” drummer Shelly Manne, he…