Billboard : 10/28/1957
Special Merit Jazz Album

Rollins‘ second Blue Note LP is another essential volume for the modernist collector trade. Supporting names to help sales along include those of J.J. Johnson, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Horace Silver and Paul Chambers. The resourcefulness and vigor of these performances, plus the good sound, are rarely equaled. Rollins is making a strong bid for recognition as the top tenor man on the scene today.

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Down Beat : 12/26/1957
Dom Cerulli : 5 stars

The Blue Note set, with something of interest (and quite often genius) on every track, may well be the wailing set of the year. It smacks of a loose-as-ashes session, with some of the pace becoming so frantic that even Sonny jumped into fours twice on Blakey‘s time.

The tempo on March is about as up as you’ll hear this season, and about half way through it becomes evident suddenly that Chambers is playing what amounts to a running solo all the way through. J.J. is blistering, and Sonny is powerful. Blakey’s fireballing is particularly appropriate here.

As an added fillip, the mood changes on Misterioso, which is Monk in flavor, conception, and fact. This is a collector’s track because both Monk and Silver play on it. But, with due respect to Horace, it is Monk who dominates.

Reflections combines Monk and Sonny with rhythm, and again the whole conception is Monk’s. There is a Hawkins intensity to Sonny’s solo here. On Dream, both Sonny and a virile-toned J.J. wail as if in a cutting session. Chambers plays a bowed solo that has the bite of a baritone.

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Liner Notes by Robert Levin

Whenever Max Roach introduces the members of his exciting quintet, he saves Sonny Rollins for last and describes him as, “The man whom we believe to be at the top of the heap of modern tenor saxophonists.”

I doubt that many will argue this point. Certainly no one can deny Sonny his position as the leader of an entire school of contemporary, modern tenor men; Hank Mobley, Johnny Griffin, J.R. Monterose, Billy Mitchell, John Coltrane, Charlie Rouse, Phil Urso and scores of others have, in part, been shaped by Sonny’s dynamic musical personality.

But, “being considered an influence… bugs me. I’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of work.” Sonny spoke those words in a Down Beat interview conducted by Nat Hentoff in November of 1956 and it is this sincere attitude of dissatisfaction and discontent with what he has done before that has been responsible for his continued growth and advancement.

Sonny of course is not without his influences. Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker and Lester Young are the most apparent. He has assimilated the ideas and techniques of those three masters with his own and has gradually and with much studying and “woodshedding” (for Sonny is a perfectionist) evolved a voice that is unmistakably his; a powerful, biting, voice, persuasive, uncompromising and always stimulating.

Of Parker, an early friend and mentor of Sonny’s, he says, “Bird made a deep impression on me on tenor. I heard him play it very seldom, but his ideas, his drive, the way he could create moved me very much. As soon as he started to play on tenor or alto, he’d create the complete mood and would carry everyone, including the rhythm section, along with him. That’s the mark of a true soloist. He was very sure and definite.”

Sonny too is “sure and definite” and he too possesses that rare quality that enables him to “carry everyone,” sidemen and listeners alike, along with him. Few artists, past or present, have been able to achieve the “deep-down” warmth and drive that, as it was with Bird, is inherent in Sonny’s music.

Born and raised in New York City, Sonny began his professional career with the colorful Babs Gonzales. He has since worked with almost every artist of any repute in modern jazz; Parker, Bud Powell, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Kenny Dorham, Clifford Brown, Art Farmer and Roach, among many others.

Of the magnificent Thelonious Monk little can be said that has not already been said. You have to listen to Monk to believe all the seemingly impossible superlatives anyhow and if you have not yet picked up on the two Blue Note albums by this “Genius of Modern Music,” BLP 1510 and 1511, do so. Monk and Sonny are two of the most important individuals in jazz today. They are both firmly rooted in jazz tradition, which is to say that the earliest forms of jazz; spirituals, gospels, etc. are, at the least, the basis of almost everything they play. At the same time their vast conceptions and scope encompass and transcend much of what is going on at present. Monk is heard on this recording on two tracks (two of his most provocative originals) and the unique blending of sound and ideas he achieves with Rollins spells “creativeness” in the true meaning of that all too carelessly used word. These men will leave a pronounced mark on all future generations of jazz.

J.J. Johnson‘s brilliant trombone is the other horn on this date and the rather unusual tenor-trombone voicing he provides is quite refreshing. J.J., now out of the rather strict and narrow context of the disbanded “Jay & Kai” group, is given more than adequate space here to expand on his always potent thoughts. Johnson was the first trombonist able to play the intricate changes of the Bop style and Leonard Feather has said that “Jay Jay is to the trombone what Charlie Parker was to the alto sax.”

Horace Silver and Art Blakey have been written about almost as extensively as they have recorded. They are both unanimously considered to be among the top performers on their respective instruments.

Paul Chambers is a young, oft-recorded and gifted bassist who has gained a great deal of attention within the past year primarily for his work with the Miles Davis quintet.

The first side opens with Why Don’t I? a light, happy swinger by Rollins. Sonny, J.J. and Horace solo in that order with Blakey coming up front towards the end to exchange a brace of exhilarating fours with the horns.

The exuberant mood is extended into the next track, another Rollins tune, Wail March, which quite shockingly turns out to be just that – a wailing march! Drum Major Blakey “postures” briefly before Sonny and J.J. being the quick, strutting unison theme. J.J. falls out abruptly, at double time, to demonstrate his fantastic technical prowess. Then a return to the theme which is followed by a similarly fleet and driving Rollins. Silver’s excursion is a typical Silver excursion, swinging and, well, swinging. Blakey gets a chance to flex his snares too before the band moves out.

Misterioso, a slow blues which follows, is Monk’s tune (he recorded it previously with Milt Jackson, John Simmons and Shadow Wilson on BLP 1510) and this particular rendition is one no modernist collector should be without. The sparkling performances alone are enough to justify many hearings but the fact that both Monk and Silver are present gives this number special interest and meaning. Silver is a descendent of Bud Powell, the other great early Bop pianist who has made even more of an impression on contemporary piano players in point of stylistic influence, than Monk whose style is just too difficult and person. Monk opens with the intriguing, ascending theme with Sonny and J.J. joining him in a restatement. Then Sonny’s solo, which from the opening note is hard, passionate and deeply moving, one of his best on record. Monk does the comping behind Sonny then J.J. comes in with Silver backing him. Silver solos next and is succeeded by Chambers who makes way for a set of exchanges between Sonny, Art and J.J. Horace remains until the two final melody choruses; then Monk takes over again and closes in unison with Sonny and J.J. The Blue Note supervisors deserve credit for arranging this. It is an extremely intelligent example of perceptive A&R work.

Monk’s Reflections, is a pensive, moody ballad with a simple and beautiful melody line. Sonny and Monk are the soloists and the groove affected is suggested by the title. No two other musicians are more suited to playing together than this part of giants. Their depth and energy is incredible.

The standard, You Stepped Out of a Dream, uptempo all the way, features a typically intense and searching Rollins. Johnson, Silver, and Chambers (bowed) solos in an equally effective fashion.

Poor Butterfly, the very pretty gold song that has suddenly become popular again is treated in a properly sensitive way and at an easy, relaxed tempo with poignant solos by Sonny, J.J., Horace and Paul.

This is Sonny Rollins’ second album for Blue Note as a leader. (He appeared with Bud Powell, BLP 1503 and Fats Navarro, BLP 1531 and BLP 1532). The first one, BLP 1542, features Max Roach and Don Byrd.

Sonny was listed as one of the new arrivals of the year in the 1957 Metronome Yearbook. The honor was belated when you consider that he has been on the scene since 1948. But it is a significant and happy sign that Sonny and others like him are finally beginning to be recognized as artists with something that is truly meaningful to say.