Road Shows: Vol. 1

Sonny Rollins | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 28, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Emarcy / Pgd
• ASIN: B001G5SDJ8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,448 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Searing Sonny Rollins performances, April 16, 2009

By 

Matthew Watters (Vietnam) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road Shows: Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

I'll confess that my own jazz prejudices run pretty deep. I have always suspected that everything important in this music was pretty much said by about 1964, with the music then splitting between a mainstream that added electric basses and keyboards (yikes) and largely turned the music into instrumental pop or funk, and an avant garde that, from Albert Ayler and Sunny Murray in the late 60s through players like Jemeel Moondoc and William Parker in the new improvisatory scene, is largely keeping the true flame of creative jazz alive. What's interesting about Sonny Rollins' Road Shows is that, like the later career of Ornette Coleman, it represents both trends. Sonny's backing band since the late 70s is faceless, amplified dreck of the sort that pretty much ruined jazz, and that's what you'll hear on these tracks. But Sonny himself, well, he's really reaching out there on these performances, really tapping into the spiritual vein of the avant garde. I found myself really digging it. Take his treatment of the great old standard "Easy Living," for instance, performed in Warsaw in 1980. He really tears it up, and even the sour electric piano and cheesy electric bass can't ruin it. All in all, I approached Road Shows with trepidation. I mean, how could you make a decent album out of a bunch of highlights from disparate concerts over the past 25 years? It was a recipe for disaster. But the result is astonishingly coherent, a testament to how consistent Sonny Rollins mature vision has been, at least in live performance. Great stuff.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Track Listing Details, March 29, 2009

By 

Alan Christopher (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road Shows: Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Track Listing

*Best Wishes*
Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Clifton Anderson, trombone; Mark Soskin, piano; Bobby Broom, guitar; Jerome Harris, electric bass; Al Foster, drums. Recorded at Kosei Nenkin Hall, Tokyo, Japan; May 25, 1986 (9:26)

*More Than You Know*
Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone, Clifton Anderson, trombone; Bobby Broom, guitar; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Victor Lewis, drums; Kimati Dinizulu, percussion. Recorded at La Halle aux Grains, Toulouse, France; May 15, 2006 (8:44)

*Blossom*
Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Mark Soskin, piano; Jerome Harris, electric bass; Al Foster, drums. Recorded at Umea (Sweden) Jazz Festival; October 25, 1980 (12:28)

*Easy Living*
Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Mark Soskin, piano; Jerome Harris, electric bass; Al Foster, drums. Recorded at Congress Hall, Warsaw (Poland) Jazz Jamboree; October 23, 1980 (11:03)

*Tenor Madness*
Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Clifton Anderson, trombone; Stephen Scott, piano; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Perry Wilson, drums; Victor See-Yuen, percussion. Recorded at Pantheon Tama, Tama City, Japan; June 8, 2000 (7:50)

*Nice Lady*
Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Clifton Anderson, trombone; Bobby Broom, guitar; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Steve Jordan, drums; Kimati Dinizulu, percussion.Recorded at Royal Theatre, Victoria, B.C. Canada; June 24, 2007 (12:12)

*Some Enchanted Evening*
Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Christian McBride, bass; Roy Haynes, drums.Recorded at Carnegie Hall, New York City, September 18, 2007 (9:55)

Cuts 1,3,5,6 are Rollins compositions. (71:37 total time)

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sonny's the best1, November 27, 2008

By 

skip norris, music hall detroit "skip norris" (detroit, mi usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road Shows: Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Without question, this is one of the best Sonny Rollins recordings in the last 40 years.
Sonny starts on fire with "Best Wishes" and smokes his way through this wonderful cd. What's really intersting is the mix of revolving personnel over the years. It reveals Sonny's taste as a bandleader who likes consistency but spontaneity as well.

Well done Newk !

Skip Norris
Jazz Artistic Director
The Music Hall for the Performing Arts Center
Detroit,Michigan