While there are perhaps no absolute classics, here is an interesting overview of one of Rollins's best and most prolific periods, spanning the famous “bridge” sabbatical at the start of the 1960s. The 1958 sessions, reissued from the eponymous Metrojazz album, began with Sonny's then regular environment of Grimes and Specs Wright, on three unlikely older pop-songs followed by an a cappella ‘Body And Soul’. (Incidentally, Metrojazz's “Music Inn” tracks included on a previous Verve reissue are now on Fresh Sound's MJQ disc, reviewed in Jazzwise 155). The big band companion, with eight brass arranged by Wilkins and Haynes taking over on drums, has two originals and two further pops in a setting that simultaneously confines and inspires Rollins. The remaining session here is a less reissued quintet (for the Period label) with Jimmy Cleveland and an OK rhythm section, recorded the day after the Night at the Village Vanguard, and has a more straightahead reprise of ‘Sonnymoon For Two’.

Career-wise, in 1965 Rollins joined Impulse! after RCA-Victor, and his first studio date was the uncluttered quartet session with Bryant. All five tracks are pop-songs if you include one of his finest calypsos, ‘Hold ’Em Joe’, and the whole thing goes off like a fire-cracker, partly thanks to Rudy Van Gelder's efforts. But, exactly three weeks before, a similar but slightly longer live set at the Museum of Modern Art had been recorded (also by Van Gelder) with Flanagan and two drummers side by side, which remained unissued until 1978. I remember Sonny being a bit unhappy about There Will Never because, though done under contract and not a bootleg, he had done On Impulse! in order to replace it. But it does capture his unpredictability like few other “official” albums and, though ‘On Green Dolphin Street’ and ‘Three Little Words’ reappear, they're different enough from the studio versions to afford endless comparisons.

The live Domino, previously unissued as far as I can tell, is different again since it comes from a unique George Wein-produced European tour, in which Niels-Henning and Dawson played separately with Bill Evans, Lee Konitz and Rollins. (Part of his Copenhagen and Stockholm sets were on a deleted Magnetic album.) The ‘Dolphin’ resurfaces along with ‘Never Be Another You’ and passing allusions to many others, and the backing duo do well to keep up. This is perhaps not the Rollins to start a collection but, if you're already into him, it's reasonably well recorded and will repay serious study.