Record Reviews

SONNY ROLLINS ~ FREEDOM WEAVER: THE 1959 EUROPEAN TOUR RECORDINGS RESONANCE 2065 (Barcode: 617270122860) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 1959 Released: 2024 This is an archival live album by the American Saxophone Colossus - Sonny RollinsFind albums by this artist, recorded on a trio setting during his 1959 European Tour, with bassist Henry GrimesFind albums by this artist and drummers Pete La RocaFind albums by this artist, Joe HarrisFind albums by this artist or Kenny ClarkeFind albums by this artist (all four are sadly not with us anymore). The tour spanned Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Germany and France and the 3CD album presents twenty-six tracks, recorded at radio, concert halls and a club and the sound quality of these recordings is absolutely stunning. As usual with the ResonanceFind albums on this label label releases, the album is accompanied by extensive booklet with in-depth interviews and articles by musicians and critics and brilliant photographs. It was 1959 and Bebop was still the King of jazz, but Rollins was never playing exactly by the “rules”, so these tracks beautifully depict how cleverly and ingeniously he bends the established trends tradition and does his own thing. Especially interesting are the three tracks on CD3, which are all between fifteen and almost twenty minutes long and offer Rollins playing super-long solos of the finest possible quality. The fact that all the music was recorded in Europe, where the response to Jazz in general, and advanced forms of it in particular, were warmly embraced and appreciated, in contrast to what happened in the US at the time, is probably why the atmosphere is obviously warm and receptive. I talked to Rollins about this during my telephone conversation with him a while ago, about his recordings in Finland, and he also expressed his appreciation of the European audiences. In a short interview included on CD1 Rollins explains why he decided to play in a saxophone trio format, which was highly unusual at the time. Some of these tracks have been available in bootleg form, but this is the first time the entire 1959 European Tour is available together in exquisite sound quality and with proper care and respect. It is also remarkable that there is very little repetition as far as the compositions are concerned, although all the music was recorded within the span of nine days between March 2 and March 11, 1959. What an incredible level of creativity. Overall, this is an incredible piece of Jazz history and a sublime collection of music by one of the finest and greatest Godfathers of the genre. Regardless of how many albums by Rollins one already owns in one’s collection, this album is an absolute and essential must have!

Updated: 03/01/2025Posted: 03/01/2025

CD 3 Mini-Sleeve Remastered Essential Recommend To A Friend

GEORGE RUSSELL ~ SEVEN CLASSIC ALBUMS REAL GONE JAZZ 353 (Barcode: 5036408140425) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 1959 - 1962 Released: 2012 This is a reissue of the early recordings by the legendary American pianist / composer / arranger / music theorist George RussellFind albums by this artist This set collects recordings made between 1959 and 1962, which present Russell playing with small orchestral ensembles and small combos, introducing elements of his Lydian Chromatic Concept and later Modal Jazz. The six albums included here are: "New York, N.Y.Find albums with this title" from 1959, "Jazz In The Space AgeFind albums with this title" from 1960, "StratusphunkFind albums with this title" from 1960, "George Russell Sextet In K.C.Find albums with this title" from 1961, "Ezz-TheticsFind albums with this title" from 1961, "The Stratus SeekersFind albums with this title" from 1962 and "The Outer ViewFind albums with this title" from 1962. The musicians participating in these recordings include some of the most important American Jazz players at the time, like saxophonists John ColtraneFind albums by this artist and Eric DolphyFind albums by this artist, pianists like Bill EvansFind albums by this artist and Paul BleyFind albums by this artist, bassists Chuck IsraelsFind albums by this artist and Steve SwallowFind albums by this artist and drummers Joe HuntFind albums by this artist and Pete La RocaFind albums by this artist, to mention just a few. Overall this is a fascinating collection of great Jazz music performed by some of the best players at the time, and which has additionally also an enormous historical value. I can’t imagine any true Jazz fan missing this set! Side Note The Real Gone JazzFind albums on this label label releases hundreds of album collections, which include usually between three to eight original albums in a two to four CDs sets. Most of these albums were recorded and released in the 1950s and early 1960s. These collections provide the track lists and lineups of the original albums, but no recording information, liner notes and any background information whatsoever. The label takes advantage of the copyright law in UK, which limited the length of the copyright protection of recorded works to 50 years, after which recorded works become public domain. In 2013 UK implemented a correction of the copyright law extending the protection of recorded works to 70 years (like the rest of Europe), but the correction does not apply retroactively, which means that recordings which entered the 50 years rule prior to January 1, 2013 (i.e. recorded before January 1, 1963) remain public domain. There are two great advantages to these releases: they are really inexpensive and they bring back to life many albums not reissued previously on CD, which means it would cost a collector an arm and a leg to get a copy of them. Many of these albums are absolute gems and essential pieces of Jazz history. The disadvantages are: the lack of proper information, original cover art, combining tracks of several original albums on one CD and the sound quality, which depends on where the label gets the source material. From my experience most of the releases have quite excellent sound quality but I have not listened to all of them and some people have complained about it.

Updated: 27/05/2018Posted: 02/10/2016

CD 4 Remastered Recommend To A Friend