Saxophone Colossus
| Saxophone Colossus | ||||
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| Studio album by Sonny Rollins | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Prestige Records | |||
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Title (number) |
5 |
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running time |
39:52 |
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Studio (s) |
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Saxophone Colossus is a jazz album by Sonny Rollins that was released in 1956 and is considered the masterpiece of his work for the prestige label.
The music of the album
There are five tracks on the album, three of which are attributed to Rollins. St. Thomas is a calypso- inspired piece named after the island of Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands , where his mother came from. The composition appeared in 1955 under the name Fire Down There . In the liner notes for the box set The Complete Prestige Recordings , Rollins makes it clear that Prestige insisted on releasing the traditional piece under his name. According to Allmusic , this Rollins recording is considered definitive.
You Don't Know What Love Is is a ballad by Don Raye and Gene De Paul in an unmistakable, dark arrangement by Rollins. Strode Rode is a fast, hard-bop number, notable for its staccato theme and a short, peppy duet between Rollins and Doug Watkins on bass. The piece is named after the Strode Hotel in Chicago , a tribute to trumpeter Freddie Webster , who died there in 1947.
The second side of the original LP consists of two longer tracks in B flat minor . Moritat is a standard from Bertolt Brecht's and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera , better known as The Moritat by Mackie Messer . As the liner notes point out, the Threepenny Opera was extremely popular at the time the album was recorded. Rollins' version is dark but cheerful and differs from the interpretations of other musicians of the time, who were often more frivolous and exalted. The last track on the album, Blue 7 , is a blues , over eleven minutes long.
The record was recorded on June 22, 1956 by Rudy Van Gelder . A remastered version was released in 1999, with no additional tracks added. Another remastered version was released in 2006, this time edited by Van Gelder.
The title of the album, which is very appropriate in several respects, comes from the advertising manager of Prestige Records, Robert Altshuler.
reception
| source | rating |
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| Allmusic |
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| Jazzwise |
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- According to Rondo magazine , the album is one of the “milestones in jazz”.
- The music magazine Jazzwise placed Saxophone Colossus at number 5 on their list The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook the World in 2006 .
- Rolling Stone magazine voted the album at number 45 in its 2013 list of The 100 Best Jazz Albums .
- In 2017 the album was entered into the National Recording Registry .
Track list
- page 1
- 1. St. Thomas ( Sonny Rollins ) - 6:49
- 2. You Don't Know What Love Is ( Gene de Paul , Don Raye ) - 6:31
- 3. Strode Rode (Rollins) - 5:17
- Page 2
- 4. Moritat ( Bertolt Brecht , Kurt Weill ) - 10:06
- 5. Blue Seven (Rollins) - 11:18 am
Footnotes
- ↑ cf. Saxophone Colossus at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Discogs. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
- ↑ Review by Scott Yanow on allmusic.com (accessed June 13, 2018)
- ↑ Review by James McCarthy on jazzwisemagazine.com (accessed June 13, 2018)
- ↑ Issue 3/1998
- ↑ The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World on jazzwisemagazine.com (accessed June 13, 2018)
- ↑ Rolling Stone: The 100 Best Jazz Albums . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
- ↑ National Recording Registry Picks Are "Over the Rainbow" on loc.gov (accessed June 13, 2018)