Search - Sonny Rollins :: Volume 1

It would be 5 stars if there were no Vol. 2

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 08/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The main problem with "Sonny Rollins: Volume One" is that it precedes "Sonny Rollins: Volume Two," which for many Rollins followers is his strongest album. The difference has less to do with frontline companions (Byrd on Vol. One, J. J. Johnson on Vol. Two) than the explosiveness of the rhythm sections. The team of Wyn Kelly, Gene Ramey and Max Roach just doesn't have the "push" of Silver/Monk, Chambers and Art Blakey.



Although the first tune sounds somewhat "contrived," this is overall a relaxed, unpretentious, exceptionally lyrical, melodic, satisfying session by Rollins, with "Glocca Morra" showing a rarely seen sentimental, even tender, side of the muscular-sounding player. What Byrd lacks in Johnson's precision, he makes up for in lyricism, and Kelly, if a less insistent accompanist than Silver, is certainly a far more infectious, felicitous, swinging soloist. Roach's "short stroke" and busy, chattering snare often seem out of the place on this session, interfering with the more groove-minded Byrd and Kelly.



In sum, a Rollins recording that deserves to be placed much higher in his "most essential" discography."