Night At The Village Vanguard [Live] [Original recording remastered]

Amazon.com
In 1957, Sonny Rollins was at an early creative peak, already a masterful improviser who could range from hard-bitten bop blues to broad or sly humor, all conveyed with a swaggering virtuosity and bullying warmth. One of the first jazz musicians to develop the extended solo, Rollins would turn tunes inside out rhythmically, often building a solo around complex variations on a tune's melody. The Vanguard recordings come from a period when Rollins found maximum freedom in a trio pared down to the essentials of tenor, bass, and drums, and the multiple takes here testify to his fluent invention. Disc 1 of this set is highlighted by two takes of "A Night in Tunisia," the first recorded at a matinee with bassist Donald Bailey and drummer Pete LaRoca, the second and faster version at the evening performance with regular accompanists bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Elvin Jones. The second CD continues the evening performance with Ware and Jones. It's a uniquely gifted threesome, with each musician seeming to invent new ways to swing, without a note or a musical opportunity wasted. Both Rollins and Ware reveal their relationship to Thelonious Monk in the ability to create complex, arresting music out of shifts in rhythmic inflections. It's especially apparent in the second version of "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise." In this context, Jones has an opportunity to show just how melodic a drummer he was. The two versions of "Get Happy" demonstrate Rollins's ability to make complex and witty music out of the most banal material, while "What Is This Thing Called Love" is a tour de force of sustained group invention. --Stuart Broomer

Product Description
The mid-fifties was an astonishing period for this saxophone genius. And for all his great work in this era, this daring album and "Saxophone Colossus" remain his crowning achievements. With just bass (Wilbur Ware) and drums (Elvin Jones) in support, Rollins creates tenor saxophone improvisations of increible beauty and inexhaustible creativity. Twenty years after the initial album, a double album containing the rest of the releasable material from this magic night at the Village Vanguard was issued. With the recent re-discovery of the original tapes, the performance has been assembled as it happened and beautifully remastered by original engineer with superb depth of sound. Several of Sonny's stage announcements have been added to master for the first time.

Night At The Village Vanguard,Sonny Rollins,Blue Note Records,Bop,Hard Bop,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop

Average customer rating: A Power Trio!!! unlike coupling Raw Powerful Sonny...Awesome ! Pretty great, but... Anticipation Of Things To Come

Night At The Village Vanguard Sonny Rollins Manufacturer: Blue Note Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Blue Note Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music Bebop | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music Modern Post Bop | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Way Out West Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall The Bridge Tenor Madness Soul Station ASIN: B00000K4GJ Release Date: 1999-09-14

Tracks:

1. A Night In Tunisia
2. I've Got You Under My Skin
3. A Night In Tunisia (Evening Take)
4. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (Alternate Take)
5. Four
6. Introduction
7. Woody 'N' You
8. Introduction
9. Old Devil Moon

Tracks:

1. What Is This Thing Called Love
2. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
3. Sonnymoon For Two
4. I Can't Get Started
5. I'll Remember April
6. Get Happy
7. Striver's Row
8. All The Things You Are
9. Get Happy (Short Version)

Amazon.com

In 1957, Sonny Rollins was at an early creative peak, already a masterful improviser who could range from hard-bitten bop blues to broad or sly humor, all conveyed with a swaggering virtuosity and bullying warmth. One of the first jazz musicians to develop the extended solo, Rollins would turn tunes inside out rhythmically, often building a solo around complex variations on a tune's melody. The Vanguard recordings come from a period when Rollins found maximum freedom in a trio pared down to the essentials of tenor, bass, and drums, and the multiple takes here testify to his fluent invention. Disc 1 of this set is highlighted by two takes of "A Night in Tunisia," the first recorded at a matinee with bassist Donald Bailey and drummer Pete LaRoca, the second and faster version at the evening performance with regular accompanists bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Elvin Jones. The second CD continues the evening performance with Ware and Jones. It's a uniquely gifted threesome, with each musician seeming to invent new ways to swing, without a note or a musical opportunity wasted. Both Rollins and Ware reveal their relationship to Thelonious Monk in the ability to create complex, arresting music out of shifts in rhythmic inflections. It's especially apparent in the second version of "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise." In this context, Jones has an opportunity to show just how melodic a drummer he was. The two versions of "Get Happy" demonstrate Rollins's ability to make complex and witty music out of the most banal material, while "What Is This Thing Called Love" is a tour de force of sustained group invention. --Stuart Broomer

Album Description

The mid-fifties was an astonishing period for this saxophone genius. And for all his great work in this era, this daring album and "Saxophone Colossus" remain his crowning achievements. With just bass (Wilbur Ware) and drums (Elvin Jones) in support, Rollins creates tenor saxophone improvisations of increible beauty and inexhaustible creativity. Twenty years after the initial album, a double album containing the rest of the releasable material from this magic night at the Village Vanguard was issued. With the recent re-discovery of the original tapes, the performance has been assembled as it happened and beautifully remastered by original engineer with superb depth of sound. Several of Sonny's stage announcements have been added to master for the first time.

Customer Reviews:

A Power Trio!!!.......2007-03-18

It's almost hard to fathom that it's been almost 50 years since Sonny Rollins recorded the historic "Night At The Village Vanguard" for Blue Note. Even half a century later, this jaw-dropping performance still leaves one awestruck by it's beauty and power.
Even as far back as 1957, Sonny Rollins was experimenting with different ensemble configurations and at the Village Vanguard, unveiled a combo that was unique for its time - a tenor sax/bass/drums trio which already proved to be successful on "Way Out West" from earlier in the year. Because of the lack of any chordal instruments, the musical interplay between Rollins, bassist Wilbur Ware and a rising star drummer in the form of Elvin Jones is extremely tight and each musician is given plenty of space to stretch out without going too far off the deep end.
Every piece included in this set is a gem. It's almost like being there in the middle of the Village Vanguard listening to the Rollins trio giving their all. Even the early take of "A Night In Tunisia" which features Donald Bailey and Pete LaRoca in the place of Ware and Jones is a sure-fire performance.
"A Night At The Village Vanguard" is definitely a must for Sonny Rollins fans as well as anyone who appreciates Jazz. The remastering by original recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder is absolutely stunning although there is a slight amount of undistracting tape hum heard occasionally.
Four years later, John Coltrane would record a legendary album at the Vanguard which would make the venue a household name. However, it should be noted that not only was Sonny's recorded first, it was also the first ever recording to be made at the Village Vanguard.
Definitely Essential Sonny Rollins!!!

unlike coupling.......2006-03-17

Curiosity has driven me to buy this double,live CD set,and after repeated listening, I'm afraid my expectations were a little too far from reality. I was, in fact convinced that Elvin Jones drums would have made a heck of a match to Rollins 'out of tune',loose sound,yet this isn't the case on these sessions. Apart from a couple of tracks('A night in Tunisia',disc1 and partly in 'What is this thing called love',disc2)Elvin hasn't fully developed,yet the rythm machine he was in the John Coltrane quartet. If I didn't hear Rollins mentioning the drummer in his presentations(or read about it in the booklet)I would have thought Max Roach,at best, was on drums or perhaps someone less recognizable,to my ear, like Louis Hayes or Art Taylor. Anyhow, the school of the time wasn't that bad,was it? I am more familiar with Sonny Rollins studio recordings of his later stage,and in this set,probably because of playing in the temple of live Jazz,or maybe because of performing with his newly formed combo, I can feel more care has been put to lessen mistakes, than to express musicality freely.
In any case I've liked the versions of 'A night in Tunisia' with saxophone,as opposed to the ones I know by Art Blakey's ensembles,with the trumpet. And I love the unique out of tune sound of Rollins' sax anyway: standard bop, though for this one.

Raw Powerful Sonny...Awesome !.......2005-03-31

Man, from the very first notes of night in tunisia this is just nail you to the wall music. I think this set captures the young Sonny Rollins in rare form and should not be missed. The drummer Pete Larocca in a different life could have been an arena rock drummer. He's got a straightahead pound it out style that works beautifully on this set. Lisen to what these guys do with an old warhorse like Got You under My Skin" As they run chorus afer chorus with tempo changes and different feels. I love this CD and think that it captures Sonny Rollins at a time when his art was blossoming. Highest reccomendation.

Pretty great, but..........2004-07-19

is it just me or is Elvin's drumming kinda sloppy on this album?

Anticipation Of Things To Come.......2004-06-20

At some point in 1956 Sonny Rollins developed from being a promising new voice on the tenor saxophone to one of the great jazz improvisers. From then until his temporary withdrawal from the jazz scene at the end of the decade he produced a series of fine recorded sessions, including a classic album aptly titled `Saxophone Colossus'. This Village Vanguard recording from 1957 is valuable for capturing Rollins in good form in a live setting accompanied only by bass and drums. Of additional interest is that the drummer was another jazz colossus treading his own path to greatness: Elvin Jones.

As these were live sessions, it's not surprising if some of Sonny's playing here is sometimes more diffuse than in the more tightly constructed pieces on his studio albums from this period. Nevertheless there is a lot of inspired and energetic playing here. Tracks such as "Sonnymoon for Two", "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise" and "A Night in Tunisia" are often singled out as highlights; but I haven't yet come across any appreciation of "What Is This Thing Called Love?" as the most remarkable performance. This track reminds me of two other Rollins classics: "There's No Business Like Show Business" (on the earlier album, `Worktime') and "Three Little Words" (`Sonny Rollins on Impulse' - 1965). Like them it shows Sonny paring down and reconstructing a well-known standard with characteristic resourcefulness and wit, playing with motifs from the tune and with time and phrasing, and managing to sound both supremely relaxed and intensely concentrated at a moderately fast tempo. Notice how at the beginning he exploits the lack of a piano accompaniment to create harmonic ambiguity: by playing with just a few notes from the tune he teasingly hides its identity for a few bars (it sounds at first as though he is going to launch into "Toot, Toot, Tootsie").

Here and there on these sessions, but particularly on "What Is This Thing Called Love?" you can also hear Elvin Jones beginning to cut loose from his influences and to anticipate the kind of percussion playing he was to develop in the next few years, reaching a peak in his work with John Coltrane in the 1960s. For example, on this track he already shows that ability both to maintain the basic pulse and to appear to subvert it with the use of complex polyrhythms. This begins to happen during Sonny's solo and becomes increasingly adventurous in Elvin's. There is a particularly telling moment at the end of Elvin's long solo, when, after the original tempo seems to have been lost in a succession of polyrhythms, Rollins comes back in, immediately picking up the original tempo as if both players had rehearsed it down to the fraction of a beat. If it weren't for that moment when Sonny re-establishes control, one could suppose that on this track Elvin is the leader, taking the music where he wants it to go (it is he who has the first as well as the last word!). So for different reasons I think this track is the `classic' of the album and one which gives an intriguing anticipation of things to come - not only of Elvin's later work with Coltrane and others but also of the increasingly abstract style which Sonny was to develop in the next decade.

To describe these performances as `dialogues' between Sonny and Elvin would be to unfairly slight the contribution of bassist Wilbur Ware who plays well throughout, reliably maintaining the trio's harmonic foundation, and produces some good melodic motifs in his solos on "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise". But it's fair to say that his more conventional playing helps to set in relief the occasional glimpses into the future we get from his partners.

Whether as an historical document or in its own terms as an exhilarating blowing session, this is a highly recommended album. The sound is mono only, but for a club date is good - clear, realistic and well balanced between the three instruments.

The only other collaboration between Sonny and Elvin that I know of is the mid-1960s album, `East Broadway Rundown'. You might not like the long `free jazz' title track, but the remaining two excellent trio tracks are available on a CD in the Priceless Jazz series, along with some other good Rollins performances from the period (Priceless Jazz GRP98762- see my Amazon review).

Average customer rating: Unbelievable

Friday Night at the Village Vanguard Art Pepper Manufacturer: Ojc ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Cool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop & Post-Bop | Compilations | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Cool Jazz | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Similar Items: Saturday Night at the Village Vanguard Thursday Night at the Village Vanguard At the Village Vangaurd 4: More for Les Straight Life Intensity ASIN: B000000YWL Release Date: 1992-02-17

Tracks:

1. Las Cuevas De Mario
2. But Beautiful
3. Caravan
4. Labyrinth
5. A Night In Tunisia

Customer Reviews:

Unbelievable.......2000-09-02

How do you begin to describe a CD like this?.. It is almost beyond words - its that good. I was so moved by this album that I was compelled to write my first review. This is a phenomenal album! The songs are incredible, the atmosphere is amazing, and the re-master is exquisite. The guys at Fantasy did a fantastic job. This is one of the best Jazz albums I own. I can't say enough about it. Thanks for recommending it Amazon!

Average customer rating: Graet Pepper

Saturday Night at the Village Vanguard Art Pepper Manufacturer: Ojc ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Cool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop & Post-Bop | Compilations | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Cool Jazz | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Similar Items: Thursday Night at the Village Vanguard Friday Night at the Village Vanguard At the Village Vangaurd 4: More for Les Straight Life The Trip ASIN: B000000YWM Release Date: 1992-02-17

Tracks:

1. You Go To My Head
2. The Trip
3. Cherokee
4. For Freddie

Customer Reviews:

Graet Pepper.......2006-03-17

All the Village Vanguard CDs are great later Pepper. His intensity is all the more evident in this live date. You won't be disappointed with this one.

Average customer rating:

A Night at the Village Vanguard Sonny Rollins Manufacturer: Blue Note ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Opera & Vocal | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music ASIN: B0002NAB54 Release Date: 1999-09-14

Tracks:

1. Night in Tunisia
2. I've Got You Under My Skin
3. Night in Tunisia [Evening Take]
4. Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise [Alternate Take]
5. Four
6. Introduction
7. Woody 'N You
8. Introduction
9. Old Devil Moon

Tracks:

1. What Is This Thing Called Love?
2. Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise
3. Sonnymoon for Two
4. I Can't Get Started
5. I'll Remember April
6. Get Happy
7. Striver's Row
8. All the Things You Are
9. Get Happy [Short Version]

Average customer rating: High Note in the Life of the Troubled Art Pepper A Must For All Fans of Art

Thursday Night at the Village Vanguard Art Pepper Manufacturer: Ojc ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Cool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop & Post-Bop | Compilations | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Cool Jazz | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Similar Items: Saturday Night at the Village Vanguard Friday Night at the Village Vanguard At the Village Vangaurd 4: More for Les Straight Life The Trip ASIN: B000000YWK Release Date: 1992-02-17

Tracks:

1. Valse Triste
2. Goodbye
3. Blues For Les
4. My Friend John
5. Blues For Heard

Customer Reviews:

High Note in the Life of the Troubled Art Pepper.......2000-12-08

Art Pepper was a gifted but troubled saxophone player who struggled with a serious heroin addiction he apparently never fully beat. This recording is a live date after one of his longer stints in a California prison-- and certainly a high note in a troubled career.

A veteran of Kenton's big band, but a devotee of Coltrane, here he is struggling to redefine his sound. Coltrane's drummer Elvin Jones is on the date along with George Mraz. The back-up players provide a safety net for Pepper as he struggles with his personal demons. This music is soft and beautiful, but very emotionally exposed.

The recording quality is absolutely exceptional-- you can almost hear the smoke in the nightclub. While Pepper's playing may not be at his most crisp, he never communicated better. This would be my recommendation for anyone coming to Pepper for the first time. I believe it's an even better record than the much praised Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section-- a well-played, mainstream date with the rhythm section of the Miles Davis Quintet.

A Must For All Fans of Art.......2000-08-31

This CD is a must have for all fans of Art Pepper. He's just back from yet another sojourn in prison, and the emotion of being at the Vanguard comes through loud and clear. Valse Triste and Blues For Les showcase the trademark Pepper virtuosity and almost masochistic search for emotional depth. The man's playing is practically naked. What makes this, and the other Vanguard sessions, special is the more than usually competent accompaniement from George Mraz on bass, George Cables on piano and Elvin Jones on drums. This music will open your ears and your heart.

Average customer rating:

A Night at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 2 Sonny Rollins Manufacturer: Blue Note Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Blue Note Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music Bebop | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music Modern Post Bop | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music ASIN: B000005H4Z Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

1. What Is This Thing Called Love
2. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (Take 2)
3. Sonnymoon For Two
4. I Can't Get Started
5. I'll Remember April
6. Get Happy
7. Strivers Row
8. All The Things You Are
9. Get Happy (Short Version)

Amazon.com

The second volume of these 1957 recordings continues the evening performance begun on A Night at the Village Vanguard, Volume 1 with Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones. It's a uniquely gifted threesome, with each musician seeming to invent new ways to swing and without a note or a musical opportunity wasted. Both Rollins and Ware reveal their relationship to Thelonious Monk in the ability to create complex, arresting music out of shifts in rhythmic inflections. It's especially apparent in the second version of "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise." In this context, Jones has an opportunity to show just how melodic a drummer he could be. The two versions of "Get Happy" demonstrate Rollins's ability to make complex and witty music out of the most banal materials, while "What Is This Thing Called Love" is a tour de force of sustained group invention. --Stuart Broomer

Average customer rating:

Night at Village Vanguard Sonny Rollins ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music ASIN: B00000C2ZM Release Date: 2004-01-06

Tracks:

1. Old Devil Moon
2. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
3. Striver's Row
4. Sonnymoon For Two
5. A Night In Tunisia
6. I Can't Get Started

Album Description

24 bit digitally remastered 1998 Japanese reissue on BlueNote of his 1957 album for the label in a miniaturized LPsleeve limited to the initial pressing only. The All MusicGuide To Jazz gave the recording five out of five stars. Sixtracks.

Average customer rating:

A Night at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 3 Sonny Rollins Manufacturer: Blue Note Japan ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Blue Note Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Jazz | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B0000073EP Release Date: 1996-11-27

Tracks:

1. All the Things You Are
2. Woody 'N You
3. Four
4. I'll Remember April
5. Get Happy
6. Get Happy [Alternate Take]

Average customer rating: Sonny at his peak

A Night at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 Sonny Rollins Manufacturer: Blue Note ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Live Albums | Jazz | Styles | Music Blue Note Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Jazz | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B0000076KJ Release Date: 1997-04-23

Tracks:

1. Old Devil Moon
2. Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise
3. Striver's Row
4. Sonnymoon for Two
5. I Can't Get Started
6. Night in Tunisia

Customer Reviews:

Sonny at his peak.......1999-08-19

This set reflects Sonny Rollins at what was considered his peak. Stretching out in the live environment, with the young Elvin Jones on drums, Sonny displays his gift of melodic invention within tight and varied rythmic structures. For any fan of 1950s jazz or jazz saxophone of any period, this is an essential recording.

Average customer rating:

A Night at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 Sonny Rollins Manufacturer: Blue Note ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Blue Note Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music ASIN: B000228WJ2 Release Date: 2004-06-21

Tracks:

1. Old Devil Moon
2. Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise
3. Striver's Row
4. Sonnymoon for Two
5. I Can't Get Started
6. Night in Tunisia

Album Details

24bit digitally remastered Japanese release.

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