Sonny Rollins’ “place in Jazz”:
As Jazz moved away from Swing toward and beyond Bebop, three tenor players would emerge as the greatest and most influential for tenor players in particular and Jazz players in general: Coltrane, Rollins and Joe Henderson; arguably in that order.
I think most would agree that Coltrane was in a league all his own, but most tenor players would also agree that Sonny was not far behind as far as helping shape the way that the tenor is played in modern Jazz. Unique is that his vocabulary is very modern and harmonically advanced, but his tone concept remained more traditional than Trane’s. Also unique is that unlike the way that most players approach the improvisation of a solo by developing and expanding a melodic idea, Sonny would often pick and develop a rhythmic idea instead.
Great player with an amazingly commanding rhythmic feel. Whereas most players play to the rhythmic pulse generated by the rhythm section, one often gets the feeling that the rhythm section is playing to (accompanying) Sonny’s pulse.
https://youtu.be/HP3eg6quOdE
As Jazz moved away from Swing toward and beyond Bebop, three tenor players would emerge as the greatest and most influential for tenor players in particular and Jazz players in general: Coltrane, Rollins and Joe Henderson; arguably in that order.
I think most would agree that Coltrane was in a league all his own, but most tenor players would also agree that Sonny was not far behind as far as helping shape the way that the tenor is played in modern Jazz. Unique is that his vocabulary is very modern and harmonically advanced, but his tone concept remained more traditional than Trane’s. Also unique is that unlike the way that most players approach the improvisation of a solo by developing and expanding a melodic idea, Sonny would often pick and develop a rhythmic idea instead.
Great player with an amazingly commanding rhythmic feel. Whereas most players play to the rhythmic pulse generated by the rhythm section, one often gets the feeling that the rhythm section is playing to (accompanying) Sonny’s pulse.
https://youtu.be/HP3eg6quOdE