Tenor Madness [2006]

Performer: Sonny Rollins/Sonny Rollins Quartet
Artist: John Coltrane; Red Garland; Paul Chambers; Philly Joe Jones
Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder; Rudy Van Gelder
Producer: Nick Phillips (Reissue)
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Sonny Rollins Quartet: Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone); Red Garland (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums). Additional personnel: John Coltrane (tenor saxophone). Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey on May 24, 1956. Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler and Mark Gardner. Digitally remastered by Kirk Felton (1987, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California). Sonny Rollins Quartet: Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone); Red Garland (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums). Additional personnel: John Coltrane (tenor saxophone). Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey on May 24, 1956. Originally released on Prestige (7047). Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler. Sonny Rollins Quartet: Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone); Red Garland (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums). Additional personnel: John Coltrane (tenor saxophone). Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey on May 24, 1956. Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler and Mark Gardner. Digitally remastered using 20-bit K2 Super Coding System technology. This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players. Sonny Rollins Quartet: Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone); Red Garland (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums). Additional personnel: John Coltrane (tenor saxophone). Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey on May 24, 1956. Personnel: Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone); Sonny Rollins; Red Garland (piano); Paul Chambers (bass instrument); John Coltrane (tenor saxophone); Philly Joe Jones (drums). Audio Remasterer: Rudy Van Gelder. Liner Note Author: Ira Gitler. Recording information: Van Gelder Studios, Hackensack, NJ (05/24/1956). Author: Rudy Van Gelder. It's interesting to contrast Sonny Rollins' playing here, backed by the 1956 Miles Davis rhythm section, and his work with Ray Brown/Max Roach Incorporated. Certainly if Clifford Brown hadn't died that summer in an auto wreck, Rollins and his PLUS FOUR teammates would have continued to rival the creative output of the heralded Davis Quintet. Here, Rollins and special guest John Coltrane get right down to it on the classic riff "Tenor Madness." Coltrane is still zeroing in on his sound, while Sonny has found his (for now). Coltrane chases the blue trains, the snakes and the wind on a fulminating solo, ending with a hint of "Stranger In Paradise." Rollins replies coyly--his sense of space and phrasing more akin to Miles--painting with clouds, patiently elongating his line out of dozens of little melodic motifs, teasing Philly Joe until he busts, finishing with a counterpunching flurry of his own. As Coltrane and Rollins trade riffs and choruses, you can hear them commenting favorably on each others' inventions until they're practically one voice. For the remainder of TENOR MADNESS, Rollins contents himself to nurse the most possible melody and swing out of a few smokey orbs of sound, in the manner of mid '50s Lester Young. With "When Your Lover Has Gone" Sonny sets a relaxed groove atop Garland's magic chordal carpet, letting the action come to him, before giving way to a brilliant Chambers aria and a masterful Philly Joe solo. "Paul's Pal" and "My Reverie" are also given slow soulful treatments, while "The Most Beautiful Girl" concludes things at a brighter tempo, as Rollins toys with his beat like a cat with a mouse, before pouncing on it with Parker-ish rhythmic drive. At a time when he was a member of the legendary Clifford Brown/Max Roach sextet, Sonny Rollins was still the apple fallen not too far from the tree of Miles Davis. Tenor Madness was the recording that, once and for all, established Newk as one of the premier tenor saxophonists, an accolade that in retrospect, has continued through six full decades. This straight reissue, an RVG Remasters Edition of the original album (clocking in at a scant 35 minutes with no bonus tracks) gives an indication why a young Rollins was so well liked, as his fluency, whimsical nature, and solid construct of melodies and solos gave him the title of the next Coleman Hawkins or Lester Young of mainstream jazz. With the team of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones, staples of that era's Miles Davis combos, Rollins has all the rhythmic ammunition to cut loose, be free, and extrapolate on themes as only he could, and still can. This is most evident on his version of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," started in its normal choppy waltz time, followed by a sax/drums prelude, a drum solo from Jones, and steamed from there on in, a hot 4/4 romp. Garland is particularly outstanding for keeping up the pace, depth and placement on this one. A bluesy version of "When Your Lover Has Gone," again enlivened by Jones, and the legendary title track with Rollins and John Coltrane trading long solos, and fours with Jones, are tunes that in the mid-'50s defined the parlance "blowing session." "Paul's Pal," in tribute to Chambers, has become a standard in its own right with a bright, memorable melody showing the good humor of Rollins, especially on the second time through, while the saxophonist's ability to sing vocal like tones through his horn is no better evinced as during the light ballad "My Reverie." A recording that should stand proudly alongside Saxophone Colossus as some of the best work of Sonny Rollins in his early years, it's also a testament to the validity, vibrancy, and depth of modern jazz in the post-World War era. It belongs on everybody's shelf. [An RVG Remastered Edition was released in 2008.] ~ Michael G. Nastos

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