The Saxophone Colossus Honored

"Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" is my first awarness of Master Sonny Rollins. Who among any jazz head didn't try to get their Frank Sinatra on to "Mack the Knife"?

To date, Master Rollins is one of my most favorite saxophone players. It's been noted previously that along with him, Joe Henderson and John Coltrane are the Triumvirate of Saxing.

This year the Kennedy Center Honors added to their circle the brilliance that is Sonny Rollins.

In my opinion, Rollins' most important contribution to the jazz world is his commitment to the beauty that is jazz improvisation. To hear him solo is to hear the foundations and the future of what jazz is and what it can be. At 81 years old, everytime I hear him play, it never sounds like the last time I heard him play. I'm not referring to his sound, I'm referring to his desire to reach for new spaces in music. Name one other jazz musician who would approach a country western folk standard and turn it into a jazz standard.

Congrats to Master Sonny Rollins for this well deserved honor!

Brandford Marsalis - Genius

I can’t deny it. I love the music of Branford Marsalis. His music moves me to no end. Because I was a saxophone player, I much more familiar with the intracacies of the horn and how difficult it can be to make it sing like Marsalis does. And Marsalis is one of the great ones in the lineage of great tenor players. He was born of the same tribe of the most proficient soloist with Coltrane and Rollins. Even with his avant-garde improvisations, arrangements and compositions he can still swing as hard as any reedman from the golden era.

I don’t own Marsalis’ entire catalog, but I will suggest that I own the best of what he has offered over the years. And this new record, Metamorphosen, will stand up next to anything else he as recorded.

Metamorphosen finds Marsalis in unusual surroundings. Meaning that for the last few years he’s been basically recording in the trio format sans piano. With this recording he’s added the piano back and is no less adventurous and astute in his improvisations as he would be in the more free jazz format. Tapped to join him on this date is Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on Bass and longtime collaborator and time keeper, drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts.

As an arranger, Marsalis always has a fresh new take on classic music. One of the stand out pieces is Thelonius Monk’s “Rhythm-a-ning”. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to hear the newness of this music.

Calderazzo’s piano is soothing and exciting. Revis’ bass playing is steady and Tain’s drumming and symbol work is as perfect and as interesting as it ever was. The playing on this record just seems to be personal. And to hear Brandford’s soprano, which to me is the hardest saxophone to play well, is just beautiful. All the tunes just turn into playful dialogue between the players.

From Marsalis’ work with Sting to his classical foray, Romances for Saxophone, he always puts in a better than average perfomance. I believe Metomorphosen will go down as one of the best records of this gifted reedman’s career.