Sonny Rollins & Jim Hall: About Their "Live" Recordings—TEXT ONLY, AUDIO REMOVED but Available at Archive

THE AUDIO IN THIS POST HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWN AT THE REQUEST OF MR. ROLLINS, and the next two posts of this music have been canceled. Let’s hope that at some point Mr. Rollins realizes that, far from being objectionable, these recordings represent some of his finest moments. They should, ideally, be shared with the public in a series like what Columbia Records calls the Miles Davis and Bob Dylan “bootlegs,” which are in fact legitimate and extensively documented releases.

MEANWHILE, please know that you can hear ALL of the recordings from this gig by appointment at either of two locations in Manhattan:

George Avakian’s archives, which include this recording and many more hours of Rollins’s RCA recordings, among other items, are now housed at the New York Public Library, Lincoln Center Branch. The catalog is here. All audio/video content is listed under Series IV. Anyone can make an appointment to study these materials. Follow the directions here to make an appointment for Special Collections. No appointment is needed for the regular collection, but this falls under Special.

A copy of all the recordings from this gig is also housed at the Sonny Rollins collection in the Schomburg branch in Harlem of the New York Public Library. The rest of that collection is different from the Avakian collection. You can make an appointment to listen to the Rollins collection here.

Here is the portion of my text that remains:

Sonny Rollins’s three breaks from performing—his so-called “sabbaticals”that began in early 1955, late 1959 and late 1969—have not been fully explored, in my judgment, even though his activities during each one are extensively covered in Aidan Levy’s definitive Rollins biography. At another time I’ll share my thoughts about Sonny’s very specific goals during each break. The music that I intended to share with you in this series was from his “comeback” engagement after his second sabbatical, which started in November 1959 and lasted just about two years. On his return, he first played a short set at the original Jazz Gallery on November 13, 1961, at a benefit for the family of the late Booker Little, where many other artists performed. Starting the next night, he appeared as a headliner at the same club for a month, alternating sets with one other group, as was the practice in those days. This Jazz Gallery had no connection with the current Manhattan venue of the same name. It was run by the Termini brothers, who already ran the Five Spot.

As Levy explains, Atlantic Records producer Nesuhi Ertegun arranged to have Rollins professionally recorded on December 9, 10, and 16, with the hope that the saxophonist would sign a contract with Atlantic and that they could then release some of this material. It’s also possible that Nesuhi planned to play the tapes for the other heads of the label, if they needed to be convinced to sign Rollins to a contract. But another legendary producer, George Avakian, was now at RCA, and with its vast resources at his disposal, he was able to make a far more lucrative offer than any other label. So Rollins became an RCA artist, and they inherited the rights to Ertegun’s tapes. As George wrote to me in an email: “When Nesuhi found out what Monte Kay [Rollins’s manager at the time] wanted for a Rollins contract, he passed and gave the tapes to me, but I used them mainly to judge what tunes I should record in the studio.” In other words, at first he didn’t even think about issuing these “live” recordings. Later, George did try several times to get them officially released, but without success.

In my judgment these are some of the most amazing Rollins performances ever captured. Please note that his style had changed dramatically during his two years off. Let’s first listen to one chorus of “Oleo” from his last recording in 1959, at the initial Playboy jazz festival in Chicago on August 9th. This was the first occasion that he played with Walter Perkins, the leader and drummer of a popular Chicago group called MJT + 3, and its bassist, Bob Cranshaw:

Of course, Cranshaw became a lifelong friend and musical colleague. By the way, in the 1960s Sonny was known to sometimes appear with a shaved head, but Bob said he already had that look at the 1959 festival, and this photo documents it.

To my ear, his style in the 1960s is very different. His tone is darker, more focused, with less air in it. His ideas are less legato, and more rhythmically punchy. Overall, he is tremendously more free, more loose, and more “wild.”

Sonny was evidently pleased with Cranshaw and Perkins, as he asked them back after his two-year absence. If you are one of the many people who wonders why Rollins used Bob Cranshaw on bass, on and off, over a period of more than 50 years, listen to his exposed walking lines on Sonny’s RCA albums. You might also check out his fine work on many Blue Note albums. And Perkins is a strong drummer.

As for Jim Hall, he was never a master of fast tempos in the sense of, say, Pat Martino—that is, he never ran long fast strings of eighth-notes. But he had a delightful way of making his economical style work at high speeds. On his recordings with Rollins, he alternates short fast lines with chords, and clever quotes, and Rollins-like bitonality.

All the best,

Lewis