frogman there was a few negative remarks on some of the Amazon reviews about the interplay between Sonny and Donald Cherry but this is, IMHO, is what makes this complete set so interesting. I listened to disc 1 and the first track, Oleo #1, almost 28 minutes long, is an indicator of what's to come.
I don't know if discs 2-6 were remastered in the same way but if so what a score!!
All instruments out front and equal in the mix. Cherry's horn through the left channel and Sonny on the right. Another thing I love about the discs is the long lengths of the songs. Some jazz listeners view this negatively and make remarks like "it gets redundant" and so on. But not this disc. The jam sessions are long and complex with a solid foundation laid down by Cranshaw and Higgins.
Sonny and Donald both stretch out on long solo's and the rythm section of Bob Cranshaw and Billy Higgins is super solid backing them up and also taking solo's. When you hear the pace Cranshaw on the bass your going to wonder whether he had blisters on his fingers because the pace is just that - "blistering"!!
From 17:30 - 20:30, Higgins plays an outstanding solo that starts slow and ends in a whirlwind giving Cranshaw his only break from the blistering pace on the bass.
The tempo of the song slows at around 22 minutes with more cool interplay between Rollins and Cherry that continues until the end of the cut.
A solid 5 star review for disc 1
I don't know if discs 2-6 were remastered in the same way but if so what a score!!
All instruments out front and equal in the mix. Cherry's horn through the left channel and Sonny on the right. Another thing I love about the discs is the long lengths of the songs. Some jazz listeners view this negatively and make remarks like "it gets redundant" and so on. But not this disc. The jam sessions are long and complex with a solid foundation laid down by Cranshaw and Higgins.
Sonny and Donald both stretch out on long solo's and the rythm section of Bob Cranshaw and Billy Higgins is super solid backing them up and also taking solo's. When you hear the pace Cranshaw on the bass your going to wonder whether he had blisters on his fingers because the pace is just that - "blistering"!!
From 17:30 - 20:30, Higgins plays an outstanding solo that starts slow and ends in a whirlwind giving Cranshaw his only break from the blistering pace on the bass.
The tempo of the song slows at around 22 minutes with more cool interplay between Rollins and Cherry that continues until the end of the cut.
A solid 5 star review for disc 1