Sonny Rollins Quartet with Don Cherry: Complete Live at the Village Gate 1962

Rating: ★★★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Billy Higgins (d)
Sonny Rollins
Don Cherry (c)
Bob Cranshaw (b)

Label:

Solar

August/2015

Catalogue Number:

4569959 6CD

RecordDate:

27-30 July 1962

Archive release of the year, without a doubt. The only music previously issued from these live dates was the three long tracks on Our Man In Jazz (consistently mistitled in the text of the present set) and the intention of both Rollins and producer George Avakian was clearly to leave the rest unpublished. How the material escaped from the vaults I've no idea, but I'm certainly glad it did. There's all sorts of fascinating stuff here, including for a start another three versions of ‘Oleo’, lasting between 17½ and 37 minutes, and a couple more explorations of standards (‘Solitude’, ‘Three Little Words’ and ‘Lover’, the last-named featuring a straight 18 minutes of Sonny with no other soloists). An interesting dichotomy surfaces between that material and the seven tracks described as ‘Unidentified Original’, which contain seemingly thematic improv but also much out-of-tempo musing and several duets between members of the foursome. Some listeners to the 1962 album commented unfavourably on Cherry's contribution but, while he wasn't up to Rollins' amazingly high technical standard, he shows a ready ear and imaginative responses. Cranshaw and Higgins do well in this demanding situation too, but it's really Sonny whose overwhelming creativity carries the day. Anyone old enough to have heard him at Ronnie's in the 1960s will find this set a compelling reminder of his ability to carry all before him.

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