Categories
Music Reviews

Sonny Rollins: “A Night At The Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters” Review

 

It’s weird; while the popularity of vinyl has resulted in a lot of classic albums being reissued, most of those reissues are not the improved kind. They’re typically just the album as it was when it last got released on CD or digitally, except now on big pieces of grooved plastic.

But the good people at Blue Note Records are bucking this trend with Sonny Rollins’ A Night At The Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters, which is not only bringing this album to record players for the first time in years, but with improved sound quality that’s present on the new CD and digital editions as well.

Categories
Music Reviews

Sonny Rollins: “Freedom Weaver” Review

 

Like a lot of jazz musicians from the 1950s and ’60s, iconic saxophonist Sonny Rollins had more success in Europe at that time than he did in his native America.

So much so, in fact, that he, like them, often had European concerts broadcast on the radio, while also visiting the radio and TV stations for in-studio performances. Performances that, thanks to different (read: lax) copyright laws, were later released on LP and CD despite not being sanctioned by Mr. Rollins.

Well, now fans of Rollins can enjoy them, and guilt free, thanks to Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings (CD, digital, vinyl), which presents twenty-five songs, and one short interview, from February 21st through March 11th of 1959, which were originally recorded by European radio and television stations.