CONCERT REVIEW
Sonny Rollins at Tanglewood
by Seth Rogovoy(LENOX, Mass., Aug. 31, 1997) -- It's hard to imagine how it could get any better than Sonny Rollins at Tanglewood on Saturday night, when the saxophonist gave the most generous and exciting jazz concert in memory.
This was the very essence of jazz music: dynamics, melody, improvisation, swing, personality, movement, rhythm, color, tone, emotion, humor, pain, love, anguish, noise. The Sonny Rollins Sextet was overflowing with all of it and more.
In two sets at the Seiji Ozawa Hall, before a sold-out house and huge crowd on the lawn, Rollins and his ensemble poured forth a gusher of music, including swing tunes, pop standards, calypso numbers and heart- wrenching ballads.
It's hard to say which type of tune was the most effective. Rollins threw himself deeply and equally into all of them, and the only question was when and how was he going to surface.
Rollins kicked things off with a song he said was called "BG." With trombonist Clifton Anderson doubling Rollins' melody, it started off with a big-band punch to it, with the rhythm section taking it into funk territory and back again to swing.
Rollins then warmed himself up on a few ballads, including "I See Your Face Before Me." He played this one pretty straight all the way through with a controlled vibrato, making his big, elastic tone sing the gorgeously aching melody.
Irving Berlin's "They Say that Falling in Love Is Wonderful" was an upbeat, swing number, featuring one of several witty, playful solos by pianist Stephen Scott, as well as some great interplay between Rollins and the evening's other revelation, drummer Bruce Cox.
On one of several bebop tunes, Rollins showed why he is widely considered the greatest living improviser. Rollins builds his solos with architectural finesse, his eighth notes and triplets carving out three-dimensional space for the music. He is also the most accessible of improvisers, never straying too far from the melody, but rather playing above and below it in long, articulated lines and in flurries of notes that suggest or contrast with the melody.
In combination with his hard-driving rhythm section, powered by Cox's most musical drumming, Rollins was a nimble athlete, a physically imposing performer wielding his instrument with muscular precision. Whether simply riffing on a conventional, R&B-style tune, or playing a dreamy, bluesy ballad, Rollins was a veritable volcano of ripe musical concepts.
As the evening wore on, Rollins grew looser and his soloing grew more abundant and fertile. His signature song, "St. Thomas," featured a solo that threatened never to end -- he seemed to be channeling the proverbial "bridge," that place where Rollins literally and figuratively goes to be alone with his music and work out his intricate ideas.
The 67-year-old tenor saxophonist's band was filled out by Bob Cranshaw on electric bass guitar and Victor See-Yuen on conga and percussion.
It doesn't get any better than Sonny Rollins. If it does, someone should let us know about it.
[This review originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Sept. 1, 1997. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1997. All rights reserved.]
Seth Rogovoy
rogovoy@berkshire.net
music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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