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SONNY ROLLINS IN JAPAN
Label:Rca Victor,
Released:1973
Format:Flac
Quote:
For this 1973 Tokyo concert, Sonny Rollins is at his harshest, flirting with the avant garde. His tone never sounded more hard, and his treatment of familiar themes is perfunctory, using them as mere vehicles to launch into extended improvisation. It puts me in mind of where Miles Davis was in 1964, when he'd hired the Herbie Hancock-Ron Carter-Tony Williams rhythm section but was still playing the tunes from the Red Garland era of his band--but with hasty tossed-off head arrangements. The tunes had become mere jumping-off points. Here, in front of a hip Japanese crowd, the Sonny Rollins of the 1950s is gone. Sonny no longer cares if you like him. If you don't believe me, believe my wife, who got a headache from listening to this. That's the real test of the avant garde in my house. Sonny's just plain fierce, and the performance of "Moritat (Mack the Knife") in front of this audience has a mordancy verging on the sarcastic. The rhythm section is borrowing the strategy of Ornette Coleman's mid-60s trio -- it's all shifting textures behind the soloist -- while hometown guitarist Masuo, although he can feed Sonny chords, also solos with more of a blues-rock conception than a jazz one. The concert sound is tremendous
Tracklist:
1. Powaii 19.05
2. St. Thomas 5.38
3. Alfie 13.15
4. Moriat 9.25
Recorded 30.9.1973 at Nakano Sun-Plaza, Tokyo
Personel
Bob Cranshaw Bass [Electric]
David Lee (2) Drums
James Mtume Drums [Conga]
Yoshiaki Masuo Guitar
Sonny Rollins Saxophone [Tenor]
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