Search - Sonny Rollins :: The Standard Sonny Rollins

An odd and uneven set recorded in 1964 at the end of Sonny Rollins's years with RCA, Standard is essentially a trio album of drums and bass, with Jim Hall or Herbie Hancock dropped in from time to time to change the mix. It all starts well enough, but then some tunes are abruptly faded, leaving only a minute or two of music, with the listener wondering what mysterious studio moments lay in the voids. Still, Rollins duly delivers some goods: there are superb ballad readings on "My One and Only Love" and "My Ship," and some peculiar but fascinating ruminations on "Winter Wonderland." Yet what makes this CD necessary hearing for Rollins fans are two variations on "Trav'lin' Light," with Hancock, Stu Martin, Hall, and two bassists, Teddy Smith and David Izenzon. Rollins was over and done with his earlier avant-garde experiments with Don Cherry by 1964, but with Izenzon buzzing and humming behind him as he once did behind Ornette Coleman, some strangely beautiful moments occur, especially on the second variation, the CD's last track. The band floats so languidly that it seems the musicians could go on forever. But then again they fade... --John F. Szwed