SONNY ROLLINS
Sonny Rollins Plus Four
Prestige
1956 was a hell of a year for Sonny Rollins.
Having already recorded a number of memorable dates for
the Prestige label, both as a leader and a sideman, ’56
saw the recording of Rollins sessions that became the albums
Saxophone Colossus and Tenor Madness,
as well as Sonny Rollins Plus 4, which has been
reissued as one of Prestige’s Rudy Van Gelder Remasters
series. As with the previously mentioned albums from this
year, the final year that Rollins recorded for Prestige,
Sonny Rollins Plus 4 is a masterful recording that
shows Sonny completely coming into his own as one of the
major post-bop tenor saxophonists.
Rollins’ band here is, as usual, not
only solid, but capable of matching the tenor man’s
inventiveness and intensity at every turn. Clifford Brown
is in fine form, as is his oft-times collaborator, drummer
Max Roach. Richie Powell, Bud’s younger piano-playing
brother, turns in some fine work, and bassist George Morrow,
another member of the Brown/Roach contingent, keeps the
rhythm section bubbling along. This group of musicians worked
together quite a bit in the year or so leading up to this
session, and their tightness as a group is well documented
here. Three months after this recording was completed Brown
would be dead, derailing his iconic collaboration with Roach
and cutting off one of the major trumpet voices of the time.
Three carefully chosen, not frequently heard
standards are book ended by two classic Rollins compositions,
“Valse Hot” and “Pent-Up House.”
“Valse Hot” is just that—it is a waltz,
but it feels more like an off-kilter bop burner in a standard
time signature. It’s graceful and floating, but not
eviscerated. Rollins demonstrates just what Ira Gitler attempted
to illustrate in his chart of influences on major tenor
sax players emerging at the time. He is thoroughly indebted
to Charlie Parker for his harmonic conception, though he
plays not at all like Parker in the note-for-note sweepstakes.
But he plays with rhythm in a manner suggestive of Lester
Young, hanging in back of the phrase, then catching up with
downhill momentum. His sound shows the influence of Coleman
Hawkins and Ben Webster, but the sum of all this is what
we have come to know and love as a pure expression of Sonny
Rollins.
Among the standard songs is an interpretation
of Sam Coslow’s “Kiss and Run” that is
pretty quick in tempo, and allows Rollins, Brown, and Powell
(in that order) to show their bop chops pretty much unadorned.
The tempo ratchets up a notch with “I Feel a Song
Coming On,” and Roach cooks behind the soloists like
a madman. We hear the seeds of the approach that drummers
like Paul Motian and Jack DeJohnette would later take; though
Roach never abandons the rhythm, he does plenty else as
well, providing coloring and punch behind the soloists in
a way that few drummers could do at the time. In a characteristically
sharp choice of melodic vehicles, Rollins also tackles “Count
Your Blessings Instead of Sheep,” the closest thing
to a ballad here, though the tempo is kept at a walking
pace. Rollins displays his characteristic warmth while still
adding some nice twists and turns to the familiar melody.
Sonny Rollins Plus 4 is an essential
recording for anyone seeking to apprehend the roots of the
style that he’s continued to successfully explore
for the forty years that came after. With characteristically
outstanding remastered sound, it’s an essential addition
to any burgeoning jazz collection.
