Legendary summit meetings this week – The Sonny Rollins – Don Cherry Quartet, live at l’Olympia in Paris on January 19, 1963 and broadcast by Radio France.
Joining them are Billy Higgins on drums and Henry Grimes on bass.
Originally released as only excerpts from RCA Victor as Our Man In Paris, these were some of the first recordings made by Sonny Rollins after he emerged from his self-imposed sabbatical in 1962 to perform three nights at The Village Gate with Don Cherry in 1962.
The following is a review of the Sonny Rollins – Don Cherry Village Gate 1962 set from the Jazzwise website written by Brian Priestly:
Archive release of the year, without a doubt. The only music previously issued from these live dates was the three long tracks on Our Man In Jazz (consistently mistitled in the text of the present set) and the intention of both Sonny Rollins and producer George Avakian was clearly to leave the rest unpublished. How the material escaped from the vaults I’ve no idea, but I’m certainly glad it did. There’s all sorts of fascinating stuff here, including for a start another three versions of ‘Oleo’, lasting between 17½ and 37 minutes, and a couple more explorations of standards (‘Solitude’, ‘Three Little Words’ and ‘Lover’, the last-named featuring a straight 18 minutes of Sonny with no other soloists). An interesting dichotomy surfaces between that material and the seven tracks described as ‘Unidentified Original’, which contain seemingly thematic improv but also much out-of-tempo musing and several duets between members of the foursome. Some listeners to the 1962 album commented unfavourably on Cherry’s contribution but, while he wasn’t up to Sonny Rollins’ amazingly high technical standard, he shows a ready ear and imaginative responses. Cranshaw and Higgins do well in this demanding situation too, but it’s really Sonny whose overwhelming creativity carries the day. Anyone old enough to have heard him at Ronnie’s in the 1960s will find this set a compelling reminder of his ability to carry all before him.
’nuff said – turn off the news, hit Play and dive in.
(many thanks to Jazzwise for the article)
