Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Clifton Anderson, trombone; Stephen Scott, piano; Bob Cranshaw, electric bass; Jack DeJohnnette, drums; Perry Wilson, drums
Sonny Rollins has been called the worlds greatest
tenor saxophone player by some people. These same people could not have
heard Stan Getz, Stanley Turrentine, and Jimmy Heath, to name a few superior
players. I have been listening to Sonny most of his music life and I certainly
do not agree with those people. In fact, I think he is one of the worst
tenor player on the scene today. He is a honker, his tone is very, very
flat, in the sense that it is not rounded or full. He is not melodious.
His execution is that of an amateur. His contribution on "Did you see
Harold Vick?" confirms that. I remember when Sonny came to the Jazz
Workshop in San Francisco wearing a MoHawk haircut, that was in the pre-bridge
era. He had a better tone then than now, the post-bridge era. This CD has
a stellar line-up of side men and they do their part to save this project.
There is one thing positive I can say about Sonny, the cat is beautiful,
he should be a male model and leave the playing to musicians.
by Haybert K. Houston