Sonny Rollins on "St. Thomas" (Live)
For Halloween this year, I don't have anything particularly spooky to share with you all, unless the following counts: one of Sonny Rollins's last recorded solos prior to his 3-year recording sabbatical (the "Bridge period"). As the Guardian wrote about these 1959 live recordings from Stockholm , we hear Sonny at a crossroads in his career. He is heavyweight champion of the tenor saxophone, but Trane, Ornette, and several other saxophonists have emerged to contest his singular position in the international jazz spotlight. With Henry Grimes on bass and Pete LaRoca on drums, this is some of the most rhythmically driving, loose-sounding Sonny—even considering all of the incredible pre-Bridge material. I'd heard some of this material before: there are some videos of Sonny from around this time (including a blazing "It Don't Mean a Thing" with Grimes and Joe Harris on drums), and Donny McCaslin had showed me the "There Will Never Be a Never You