A Night at The Village Vanguard is a classic album in every sense. Now it is reissued.
Sonny Rollins – A Night at The Village Vanguard, The Complete Masters (Blue Note, 2024)
Sonny Rollins with two different rhythm sections at The Village Vanguard on November 3, 1957. The original album was released the following year and focused on the performances from the evening with bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Elvin Jones. But one song from the afternoon set with bassist Donald Bailey and drummer Pete LaRoca was also included.
As the album has gained in importance and historical value every note recorded during the day has been issued, and now all of it is reissued yet again on vinyl, CD, and digitally.
The music is very energetic and spontaneous. Rollins is truly in high form. Almost to the point where it seems that he is the engine of the rhythm section, even if he plays with some of the best sidemen in the business. He swings that hard.
At the centre of jazz
At times he sounds so full of confidence that he sounds nonchalant or able to do whatever he wants on his instrument. He is clearly the heir to the kind of musical virtuosi which Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie had introduced in bebop a decade earlier. The trio form without a pianist or guitarist also points toward the musical freedom which would become associated with Ornette Coleman a few years later.
Not that Sonny Rollins is the missing link between Charlie Parker and Ornette Coleman, but he was clearly in the centre of the musical development in jazz when he made these live recordings.
Which period of Rollins you prefer is a matter of taste. The late 1950s is clearly one of the high points. Personally, I prefer his music from the 1960s when his harmonic and rhythmic approach became even more daring as he distanced himself further from the hard bop language. But you cannot argue with the brilliance of these 1957 live recordings. They are classic in every sense of the word.
Jazz Desk 