This is 29-year-old Sonny Rollins with just bass and drums playing "Weaver of Dreams" in the Netherlands in the Singer Theatre in the small town of Laren in 1959. The bassist is Henry Grimes and the drummer is Pete LaRoca, and there was a television broadcast at the time.
This is an example of How to play the saxophone!!!! You can always tell when someone knows their way around the 'changes'......no piano is necessary. Sonny keeps the theme intact throughout. This interpretation matches up with Coltrane's version as being two of the best instrumental versions ever!!!!!
Maybe it was Miles who was pulling a Sonny? Rollins actually made it big before Miles -- in 1956 with Saxophone Colossus and his recordings with Monk. Miles didn't really break out until a year later with his first quintet. Ironically, Sonny was in the first iteration of that quintet in 1955 until Miles replaced him with Trane. Sonny of course was a far superior player over Trane in every way.
Sonny seems subdued, yet investigating and exploring as only Sonny Rollins could! Amongst my few regrets; not taking every opportunity to hear Sonny Rollins back in the day. I'll take this gift over and over though, gladly.
You might have mentioned that the bassist is the great Henry Grimes (age 23 at the time) and the drummer is Pete LaRoca. Pete was replaced by Joe Harris a bit later on on the tour.
I'm not sure if it was that or Harris just sat in or played one gig, or what. We find LaRoca on the tour before and after Harris, and by the end of the tour there is a set in Paris with Kenny Clarke!
Sonny really makes these standards his own. One of the few horn players with enough melodic and rhythmic inventiveness to adequately carry a drummer and bassist without more harmonic support.
cool 50's glasses like cover of Bill Henderson Sings on vee jay records. Henry Grimes harmonicaly progressive (on Albert Ayler, Lee Konitz albums) and Pete Laroca on drums (Don Friedman, Joe Henderson) Sonny sounds pure and rich here!
Build soul. Train ears. Got it. Great advice! Please tell me who else is good and who isn't so I can adjust my record collection according to your tastes. Thanks!
Questa è una delle tante facce musicali del grandissimo sassofonista(forse,assieme e Coltrane,il più grande di tutti!_chiedendo scusa solo a Charlie Parker,che pure è un grandissimo,a parte!). Ma verràdopo questo periodo il vero Rollins,potente e impos-sibile da contenere per energia musicale e creatività di suoni coinvolgenti! Straordinario! Non avremo piùà sassofonisti del genere nel futuro,quando sarà scomparso(lunga vita,eh!!!!)?
It's crazy how some of the youtube comments claim that Sonny Rollins looks like Kid Cudi. The youtubers get fooled by the glasses and hair style. If anything, Kid Cudi resembles the double bass player.
If one was to listen to this Blindfold, it could easily beleive he was playing a hard rubber mouthpiece and not a metal one. (probably an Otto Link) Think the reed is at least a 3* 'cos I notice the very low tones are not sub - toned. But quite fat all the same. (Getz played a 4* which made his low notes kinda 'Fuffy') (Saxist)
now, does that audience look "excited" ? i hate to see a shot of an audience, when they seem to be oblivious to what is going on, on stage ? sonny is just too brilliant for that bullshit!
I just listened to a 10h French podcast radio show on Sonny Rollins (yes, 10x 1h, covering 1951-2001!!!). A torture, but I'm like that, I dive into an artist and I listen to everything, or almost. To have my own opinion. My opinion of Rollins is that he seems very overrated to me. First of all as a player, he does not seem to me better than Johnny Griffin, Sonny Stitt, Roland Kirk, Phil Woods, Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Hank Mobley... but enjoys a much greater notoriety... and unjustified in my opinion. Ok he plays well, but not better in my opinion than the musicians above. At the level of the composition, he did not compose anything, everyone knows that his hit ''St Thomas'' is a Caribbean folklore already recorded by Randy Weston in 1955 under the title ''Fire Down There''. His ''Tenor Madness'' is a composition by Kenny Clarke published in 1947 under the title ''Rue Chaptal''. His other compositions from the 50s... well, Oleo, Airegin etc... it can in no way be compared to the compositions of Trane, Bird, Monk or Shorter... Moreover, his playing and his sound are terribly degraded after 1966 (36 years). Something happened on that bridge, he lost his mind. He seems to have been traumatized by the arrival of Ornette, Trane, Ayler... In the 60s he tried to be freer than Ayler, more calypso/blues than Ornette, and more mystical than Trane, but without succeeding because so superficial... Then in the 70s/80s he tried his hand at funk, disco... with really ridiculous and corny results... Did he want to be funkier than James Brown himself? More disco than Chic and Nile Rodgers? Also, on the radio show, they say he was paid today's $300,000 for himself to record the Nucleus album (listen to the result!!!!), and that for his concerts, his Financial claims were unrealistic, only big festivals could afford it. He played with the Stones but didn't want to tour with them because, according to Mike Jagger himself, he wanted too much money! I am not making anything up here. On ''SAIS'' from the ''Horn Culture'' album, one example among many, just picking up a random piece between 1966 and 2001....It's a shame. He plays out of tune, out of rhythm, with an absolutely disgusting sound. It is a lack of respect towards himself, the other musicians and the listener. No normally constituted musician would have agreed to let this recording be released. The problem with Rollins is that EVERYTHING IS LIKE THIS after 1966. He even said himself that he was high on marijuana when he recorded his solo album ''Soloscope'' at the Museum of Modern Art. from NYC...Also listen to the result, it's ridiculous and disrespectful towards the listeners...In a blindfold test published in downbeat in 2006, he doesn't recognize ANY saxophonist, even taking James Carter for Don Byas! Totally mind-blowing and revealing! In conclusion Sonny Rollins is for me the archetype of a narcissistic complacency encouraged by the fans and the milieu which has placed him on a throne since 1956 and his (very average) album ''saxophone colossus''. You have to be quite arrogant to glorify yourself as a ''saxophone colossus'' at 26 years old when BIRD had just died the previous year.
This track is disappointing on account of the corny schoolboy chords that Henry Grimes has chosen to work into the tune. The tune contains half diminished precursors to the major sevenths, and these are ignored or replaced with diminished versions which are child like and which are jarring against Rollins superb solo. There is no excuse for this, as both Adderley and Coltrane were showing the way in those early days.
This is 29-year-old Sonny Rollins with just bass and drums playing "Weaver of Dreams" in the Netherlands in the Singer Theatre in the small town of Laren in 1959. The bassist is Henry Grimes and the drummer is Pete LaRoca, and there was a television broadcast at the time.
Sonny Rollins is truly A Surgeon of The Tenor Saxophone!!!
So different, so unique;
This is the inimitable Sonny Rollins - beauty of tonal sound-voice as well as melodic and harmonic approaches.
Sonny's sound is so pure, and listen to that huge bass.
One of the first live concerts I saw in person
I am so jealous of that...this is easily one of the best live ballad performances ever!!
wow! how was it
lucky you ! je n'ai jamais eu la chance de le voir en concert c'est pourtant l'un de mes preferés !!!
Sonny was like a drummer on the sax his rhytmic approach is so unique
This is an example of How to play the saxophone!!!! You can always tell when someone knows their way around the 'changes'......no piano is necessary. Sonny keeps the theme intact throughout. This interpretation matches up with Coltrane's version as being two of the best instrumental versions ever!!!!!
Perfect solo in every detail!!!! And love those eye glasses:)
Amazing!
Notice the Selmer Mk VI with the Fl. Otto link super tone master mouthpiece. Signature set up! Now that's the sound we all want!
Henry. So special.
can't explain...so full of light...
There Will NEVER Be Another You, Mr. ROLLINS!!!
My Son Isaiah's first Concert. Pritzker Pavilion In Chicago at 3. He Sings like a Bird. Sonny is Life. Praises unto the Most High, Igziabeher...
I think the best part of this performance is how the whole trio is pulling a Miles and playing with their backs to the audience, like a Jazz Boss!
Maybe it was Miles who was pulling a Sonny? Rollins actually made it big before Miles -- in 1956 with Saxophone Colossus and his recordings with Monk. Miles didn't really break out until a year later with his first quintet. Ironically, Sonny was in the first iteration of that quintet in 1955 until Miles replaced him with Trane. Sonny of course was a far superior player over Trane in every way.
Pensive. Beautiful.
Sonny seems subdued, yet investigating and exploring as only Sonny Rollins could! Amongst my few regrets; not taking every opportunity to hear Sonny Rollins back in the day. I'll take this gift over and over though, gladly.
You might have mentioned that the bassist is the great Henry Grimes (age 23 at the time) and the drummer is Pete LaRoca. Pete was replaced by Joe Harris a bit later on on the tour.
I'm not sure if it was that or Harris just sat in or played one gig, or what. We find LaRoca on the tour before and after Harris, and by the end of the tour there is a set in Paris with Kenny Clarke!
Sonny really makes these standards his own. One of the few horn players with enough melodic and rhythmic inventiveness to adequately carry a drummer and bassist without more harmonic support.
Detta är bland det bästa som finns med Sonny Rollins, Fruktansvärt bra!
Happy 88th Birthday to Sonny Rollins September 7, 2018
Happy 88th Birthday to Sonny Rollins September 7, 2018
Damn, that's a SMOOTH brotha.....
Man, this is beautiful!
Recorded in the Singer theater in Laren, The Netherlands.
cool 50's glasses like cover of Bill Henderson Sings on vee jay records. Henry Grimes harmonicaly progressive (on Albert Ayler, Lee Konitz albums) and Pete Laroca on drums (Don Friedman, Joe Henderson) Sonny sounds pure and rich here!
Beautiful...
Thank you.
Love this
RIP Henry Grimes and Pete LaRoca
Yeah This Video Comeback Again , i'm in love !
Beautiful Henry Grimes
Very beautiful
Lovely!
Build soul. Train ears. Got it. Great advice! Please tell me who else is good and who isn't so I can adjust my record collection according to your tastes. Thanks!
an old time favorite. Who cool can one be ?
outstanding
Great stuff!
Goodness. Henry Grimes on bass. He was around 24 years old but he looks like he's about 14.
Just…. So good. I’m weeping right now, the state of music now compared to this. Can’t even get this on Spotify.
At least its on spotify now, just got it in my release radar and now here I am. So full of feeling
Sonny looks F****** awesome!
It reminds of baby its cold outside, specially in the start @0:09 it sounds like when she says: "My mother will start to worry"
Yes! Haha :)
Questa è una delle tante facce musicali del grandissimo sassofonista(forse,assieme e Coltrane,il più grande di tutti!_chiedendo scusa solo a Charlie Parker,che pure è un grandissimo,a parte!). Ma verràdopo questo periodo il vero Rollins,potente e impos-sibile da contenere per energia musicale e creatività di suoni coinvolgenti! Straordinario! Non avremo piùà sassofonisti del genere nel futuro,quando sarà scomparso(lunga vita,eh!!!!)?
full of feeling
ty ...
This shit is sublime
I like Sonny's playing in this video more than I like it when he started to get older.
Henry Grimes-b, Pete la Roca-d
It was enough to say, Sonny!
Does anyone know what tune Sonny was playing on the old Pioneer "Brings them back alive" commercial?
Awesome! Someone knows why they are not facing the audience?
Listening to this I'm going to have a tall night cap...
My homie....
Does anybody know why they're not facing the audience when performing this piece? Is it for visual aesthetics? Id be great to know! :)
gorgeous...listen to trane playing the same tune...delicious
kenny clarke played some dates on that tour, but I don't think that's him on drums
Sonny host the powerful soul of Charlie, the sweet of Hawkins, the cool of Young and prodigy of Rollins
a simplicidade da sofis
ticação
Dizzy's little brother...lol..... Good sax man, on the real.
Very nice and I did't know Jay-z played bass 3:03. LOL
Henry Grimes,sucker.
very handsome and he still has a head full of hair
He said more in 4 minutes than most cats can say in 4 years
Fucking amazing.
It's crazy how some of the youtube comments claim that Sonny Rollins looks like Kid Cudi. The youtubers get fooled by the glasses and hair style. If anything, Kid Cudi resembles the double bass player.
If one was to listen to this Blindfold, it could easily beleive he was playing a hard rubber mouthpiece and not a metal one.
(probably an Otto Link)
Think the reed is at least a 3* 'cos I notice the very low tones are not sub - toned. But quite fat all the same.
(Getz played a 4* which made his low notes kinda 'Fuffy')
(Saxist)
♥♥♥
there will Never be another YOU>>>SONNY ROLLINS
@xxxtincho It might have been a "bowl style" theater with the audience all around
it's interesting...
🌱💙🌸😃
@xxxtincho
Looks to me like the audience might be all around them
9 my fungii valentine
Henry Grimes !!!
Who is the bass player? He looks incredibly young.
若いですよね～☺️🎷
PETE LAROCA THE GREAT ONE, WHO HAS PASSED!
@flyprincedoom
No, Cudi looks like Rollins!
Who's the drummer?
someoene knows who is the bassist?
now, does that audience look "excited" ? i hate to see a shot of an audience, when they seem to be oblivious to what is going on, on stage ? sonny is just too brilliant for that bullshit!
Henry Grimes RIP
Qualcuno sa come sta il vecchio Sonny, a 90 anni?!
Kid Cudi wishes he was half the man Rollins is.
You mean Kid Cudi looks like Rollins
Kid Cudi looks like Rollins ;)
The cat
kid cudi, wow
2:00 What!?!?!?!
Or adjust your record collection according to...someone with soul and trained ears.
Build some soul and ear training. It does wonders.
I Think It's Henry Grimes
:P
@flyprincedoom ... so how old is kid cudi?
I just listened to a 10h French podcast radio show on Sonny Rollins (yes, 10x 1h, covering 1951-2001!!!). A torture, but I'm like that, I dive into an artist and I listen to everything, or almost. To have my own opinion.
My opinion of Rollins is that he seems very overrated to me. First of all as a player, he does not seem to me better than Johnny Griffin, Sonny Stitt, Roland Kirk, Phil Woods, Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Hank Mobley... but enjoys a much greater notoriety... and unjustified in my opinion. Ok he plays well, but not better in my opinion than the musicians above.
At the level of the composition, he did not compose anything, everyone knows that his hit ''St Thomas'' is a Caribbean folklore already recorded by Randy Weston in 1955 under the title ''Fire Down There''. His ''Tenor Madness'' is a composition by Kenny Clarke published in 1947 under the title ''Rue Chaptal''. His other compositions from the 50s... well, Oleo, Airegin etc... it can in no way be compared to the compositions of Trane, Bird, Monk or Shorter...
Moreover, his playing and his sound are terribly degraded after 1966 (36 years). Something happened on that bridge, he lost his mind. He seems to have been traumatized by the arrival of Ornette, Trane, Ayler... In the 60s he tried to be freer than Ayler, more calypso/blues than Ornette, and more mystical than Trane, but without succeeding because so superficial... Then in the 70s/80s he tried his hand at funk, disco... with really ridiculous and corny results... Did he want to be funkier than James Brown himself? More disco than Chic and Nile Rodgers? Also, on the radio show, they say he was paid today's $300,000 for himself to record the Nucleus album (listen to the result!!!!), and that for his concerts, his Financial claims were unrealistic, only big festivals could afford it. He played with the Stones but didn't want to tour with them because, according to Mike Jagger himself, he wanted too much money! I am not making anything up here.
On ''SAIS'' from the ''Horn Culture'' album, one example among many, just picking up a random piece between 1966 and 2001....It's a shame. He plays out of tune, out of rhythm, with an absolutely disgusting sound. It is a lack of respect towards himself, the other musicians and the listener. No normally constituted musician would have agreed to let this recording be released. The problem with Rollins is that EVERYTHING IS LIKE THIS after 1966. He even said himself that he was high on marijuana when he recorded his solo album ''Soloscope'' at the Museum of Modern Art. from NYC...Also listen to the result, it's ridiculous and disrespectful towards the listeners...In a blindfold test published in downbeat in 2006, he doesn't recognize ANY saxophonist, even taking James Carter for Don Byas! Totally mind-blowing and revealing!
In conclusion Sonny Rollins is for me the archetype of a narcissistic complacency encouraged by the fans and the milieu which has placed him on a throne since 1956 and his (very average) album ''saxophone colossus''. You have to be quite arrogant to glorify yourself as a ''saxophone colossus'' at 26 years old when BIRD had just died the previous year.
@flyprincedoom Kid Cudi looks like Sonny Rollins
This track is disappointing on account of the corny schoolboy chords that Henry Grimes has chosen to work into the tune. The tune contains half diminished precursors to the major sevenths, and these are ignored or replaced with diminished versions which are child like and which are jarring against Rollins superb solo. There is no excuse for this, as both Adderley and Coltrane were showing the way in those early days.
Sonny Rollins just never did it for me. Always sounds cold, flat and stiff.
Ur cold and stiff Ricky gervais
Another reason why jazz is irrelevant now, pulling a-hole moves like that, how disrespectful :(
You mean Kid Cudi looks like Rollins.
Kid Cudi looks like Rollins..
Rollins looks like Kid Cudi lol
Yeah This Video Comeback Again , i'm in love !