Billboard : 08/12/1957
Score of 77

A substantial set featuring a seven-selection tribute medley to late “Bird” Parker, provocatively handled by Rollins and emphatic colleagues (rest of review is missing)

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Cash Box : 08/31/1957

Rollins, one of the mainstays on the tenor sax, heads a quintet which supplies a session tracing some of the conceptions of the kind of jazz linked with the late Charlie Parker. One side is a medley of swing easy standards Remember You, They Can’t Take That Away From Me), and the flip portion is work on Rollins originals, Kids Now, and I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face, the former a robust take, the latter a persuasive Rollins feature. Fine jazz work.

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San Francisco Chronicle
Ralph J. Gleason : 12/01/1957

A collection of tunes associated with the late Charlie Parker and played by Sonny Rollins, tenor, with aid from a small group. Rollins is the big influence on jazz tenor these days and his strong voiced individual style gets free rein.

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San Francisco Examiner
C.H. Garrigues : 09/22/1957

Equally interesting, from a different standpoint is Phil and Quill in which two other young Bird-men, Phil Woods and Phil Quill, undertake to extend Parker’s concepts into more modern, more tightly arranged sets for a slightly larger group.

The Phil and Quill set embodies and carries on the lyricism which was always inherent in the Bird. Sonny Rollins Plays for Bird carries on that other aspect: the harsh, sometimes bitter, often frenetic, always exciting quality which (as many have said) seems to exemplify a quality of the post-Hiroshima. In it, three Bird-men (Rollins, Dorham and Roach) and two other fine jazzmen (Wade Legge and George Morrow play a handful of Parker’s favorite pieces less in imitation of than in tribute to the Bird. The result is the best Rollins I have heard; it is almost the best Dorham; it is probably the best contemporary exposition of what was going on in the Bird’s day.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

When Charlie Parker died, people who never had done anything in recognition of his great talent suddenly rushed to the mourner’s bench and delivered eulogies. This record is by musicians who knew him intimately, appreciated him tremendously during his lifetime and felt his loss far more acutely than any of the self-styled sufferers.

But this is no grand memorial. That was left by Bird himself and is added to daily in so many little (and big) ways. This is a simple tribute in the form of a medley composed of seven tunes that were recorded and, for the most part, played often by Parker.

The medley was chosen by Sonny Rollins, the most important saxophonist carrying on and enriching the Parker tradition. Sonny also chose the musicians to help him play the tribute. At the time, the five together embodied the Max Roach Quintet. Leader Roach and Kenny Dorham had played with Parker in his quintets and were well qualified to take part in the tribute. While Wade Legge and George Morrow never worked with Bird, their playing is in keeping with the tenets of the Parker tradition.

Oddly enough, the seven tunes are all from the post-1950 Parker repertoire.

Sonny heralds the entire medley by echoing Bird’s introduction to Parker’s Mood. A piano introduction by Legge leads Rollins into I Remember You. The sequence consists of one chorus of melody, one of improvisation and a third in which exchanges with Roach ensue for the first half before Sonny takes it out. This format is followed on each number up to Star Eyes. Wade modulates into Melancholy Baby which is Kenny’s vehicle and then takes Old Folks himself. Sonny returns for They Can’t Take That Away From Me using the triple tonguing that Bird employed on his recording. Kenny then plays a nostalgic Just Friends. Wade dons My Little Suede Shoes and then segues neatly into Star Eyes which is the only number in the medley to feature both horns. Sonny and Kenny have two choruses apiece, Wade one and there is one chorus each of Sonny with Max and Kenny with Max.

In addition to the medley, there are two other independent selections presented here.

Sonny’s intriguing original in 3/4 time, Kids Know, gives everyone a chance to stretch out including Max who contributes one of his intellectual-emotional gems.

I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face from My Fair Lady is a Rollins solo except for a piano interlude by Legge.