SONNY ROLLINS - A Night at the Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters - 2CD [APR 26]

2CD - Limited Expanded 3-LP S Tone Poet Special Edition of Sonny Rollins’ essential and legendary live trio album A Night At The Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters. Cut directly from the newly discovered never-before-used original master tapes.

A Night at the Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters expands legendary tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ tour-de-force 1957 live trio album to a 2-CD set and 3-LP set as part of the Tone Poet Vinyl Series. Produced by Joe Harley, the album has been remastered from the never-before-used original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray and comes with a booklet featuring never-before-seen Francis Wolff photos, insightful essays, and a new interview with Rollins in conversation with Don Was.

“I am thrilled with how this special edition of Sonny’s Village Vanguard masterpiece turned out,” said Harley. “For years, I had seen the famous photo of Rudy Van Gelder and Alfred Lion at this gig which showed a very visible Ampex 601 portable tape deck. I had always thought that perhaps it had been there as a safety to Rudy’s big 15ips Ampex deck, but then it hit me: Of course he didn’t bring the big, heavy pro deck downstairs at the Vanguard… how would you even get it down the stairs! Rudy had taken the 7.5ips tapes back to his studio and transferred them to his main 15ips deck to then be assembled and readied for mastering. So, thanks to the first- time use of the actual master tapes and a trove of newly discovered photos, you now have the best seat in the
house!”

Rollins had already recorded three Blue Note studio dates for Alfred Lion—Sonny Rollins, Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2, and Newk’s Time—in the year preceding the Village Vanguard session, which would be Rollins’ first-ever live album, as well as the first-ever live album to be recorded at the iconic New York City jazz club. The music was predominantly captured at the evening set featuring Wilbur Ware on bass and Elvin Jones on drums with two pieces coming from the afternoon set featuring Donald Bailey on bass and Pete La Roca on drums.

“I was so involved in what I was doing,” Rollins told Was. “I was a young guy. Playing the music was paramount in my mind, that was the only thing I was thinking about: having fun and getting the musical vibe right… I know it was a good record and I was completely
happy playing with those guys: Elvin and, of course, Wilbur Ware. Everything just fit together perfectly.”

* * *
“Some iconic jazz albums seem improbable, as if they’d managed to slip through the filters of happenstance. Others feel inevitable, like the fulfillment of a cosmic decree. A few manage to convey both impressions at once. Such is the case with A Night at the Village Vanguard, which rightly figures in conversations about the greatest recordings ever made. It's not a carefully plotted concept album, nor a blazing manifesto, but a document with the slangy nonchalance of a conversation overheard on the street, extemporaneous and unburdened. It's a slice of musical vérité that captures a true master of the form on a good day, in a generous and jocular mood.” —Nate Chinen

“His playing is relentless, fierce, totally engaged; and the trio context provides the necessary latitude to pull and bend the material without having it fly apart… he took these compositions to their limits, in an unyielding flow of ideas and emotion.”
—Bob Blumenthal

Tracklist: 

Disc One:
1. Introduction - 0:36
2. Old Devil Moon (B. Lane, E.Y. Harburg) - 8:19
3. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (O. Hammerstein, S. Romberg) - 8:03
4. Striver’s Row (S. Rollins) - 5:59
5. Sonnymoon For Two (Sonny Rollins) - 8:46
6. A Night In Tunisia (D. Gillespie, F. Paparelli) - 8:16 *
7. I Can’t Get Started (I. Gershwin, V. Duke) - 4:54
8. A Night In Tunisia (Evening Take) (D. Gillespie, F. Paparelli) - 9:03
9. I’ve Got You Under My Skin (C. Porter) - 10:03 *

Disc Two:
1. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (Alternate Take) (O. Hammerstein, S. Romberg) - 6:43
2. What Is This Thing Called Love (C. Porter) - 14:03
3. All The Things You Are (O. Hammerstein, J. Kern) - 6:46
4. Introduction - 0:20
5. Woody ‘N You (D. Gillespie) - 8:29
6. Four (M. Davis) - 8:26
7. I’ll Remember April (Raye, DePaul, Johnston) - 9:20
8. Get Happy (H. Arlen, T. Koehler) - 9:08
9. Get Happy (Short Version) (H. Arlen, T. Koehler) - 4:38

Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone
Wilbur Ware, bass
Elvin Jones, drums
Donald Bailey, bass*
Pete La Roca, drums*

Recorded on November 3, 1957, live at the Village Vanguard, NYC
Original Session Produced by ALFRED LION
Recording Engineer RUDY VAN GELDER
Cover Design by REID MILES
Photography FRANCIS WOLFF
Compilation Produced by JOE HARLEY
LP Mastering by KEVIN GRAY, Cohearent Audio