CD1
1. I Know
2. Time On My Hands
3. Mambo Bounce
4. This Love Of Mine
5. Shadrack
6. On A Slow Boat To China
7. With A Song In My Heart
8. Scoops
9. Newk's Fadeaway
10. In A Sentimental Mood
11. The Stopper
12. Almost Like Being In Love
13. No Moe
14. Movin' Out
15. Swingin' For Bumsy
16. Silk 'n' Satin
17. Solid
18. I Want To Be Happy
19. The Way You Look Tonight
CD2
1. More Than You Know
2. There's No Business Like Show Business
3. Paradox
4. Raincheck
5. There Are Such Things
6. It's All Right With Me
7. I Feel A Song Coming On
8. Pent-Up House
9. Valse Hot
10. Kiss And Run
11. Count Your Blessings
CD3
1. My Reverie
2. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
3. Paul's Pal
4. When Your Lover Has Gone
5. Tenor Madness
6. You Don't Know What Love Is
7. St. Thomas
8. Strode Rode
9. Blue 7
10. Moritat
11. I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face
CD4
1. The House I Live In
2. Bird Medley: I Remember You, My Melancholy
Baby, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Star
Eyes
3. B. Swift
4. My Ideal
5. Sonny Boy
6. Two Different Worlds
7. Ee-Ah
8. B. Quick
9. How Are Things In Glocca Morra
When
Proper Records first started issuing their
"Properboxes", jazz fans were understandably
jubilant. Here were riches indeed: four CDs
in a box for around £15. The format has slimmed
down slightly, in that the box is thinner
and the original jewel cases have been replaced
with cardboard sleeves, but the jubilation
continues. Properboxes continue to provide
comprehensive coverage of the early work of
many jazz masters – and still at a bargain
price.
This
boxed set is typical in allowing us to hear
a generous amount (50 tracks in all) of tenor-saxophonist
Sonny Rollins’ recordings from 1951 to 1956.
Like other Properboxes, it contains a comprehensive
booklet of notes by the tireless Joop Visser.
Visser points out that Sonny Rollins started
his musical career around the end of the bebop
era, and you can certainly hear the influence
of Charlie Parker on some early tracks here.
The opening I Know (with Miles Davis
playing minimal piano) shows that Sonny had
already mastered the conventions of bebop.
Yet the next eight tracks, recorded by a quartet
including pianist Kenny Drew, prove that Sonny
was already developing his own eclectic but
very individual style. Time On My Hands
has the warmth of tenorists like Ben Webster
and Lester Young, while Mambo Bounce has
the muscularity of the Texan tenor-saxists.
These tracks also exhibit the rhythmic freedom
which became a hallmark of Rollins’ playing.
Increasingly he seems to step across bar-lines
and breaks up sequences of eighth notes with
unexpected grunts and spaces.
The
other quality which this boxed set illustrates
is Sonny’s melodic sense. Many solos are like
a medley of tunes, as if his head is bursting
with melodies eager to emerge, often as quotations
or allusions. I cannot describe every track
on this rich collection, but just sample I
Remember You on the final CD for Sonny’s
disregard of bar-lines and its cheeky quotation
from Somewhere I’ll Find You. Also
savour on this track Max Roach’s thrilling
drumming, which spices up many tunes in this
collection (for example, the breakneck It’s
All Right With Me).
Other
items worthy of particular note are three
recordings from 1954 with pianist Thelonious
Monk, breaking up the rhythm in characteristic
style, and a 1956 session by a group which
is basically the Max Roach/Clifford Brown
Quintet. Sonny Rollins works superbly with
Clifford Brown and sometimes sounds as mellow
as Stan Getz. And there are all five tracks
from Sonny’s album Saxophone Colossus,
including his most popular number, St Thomas,
with Max Roach supplying the exotic drums.
That album title summed up Sonny Rollins’
greatness – a greatness which, thankfully,
we can still enjoy as the 77-year-old continues
performing.
Tony
Augarde
CD Reviews
Proper Records PROPERBOX 124
