Sonny Rollins - Plus 4

The sound of the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet was unmistakable on their studio recordings for EmArcy, starting in 1954. Trumpeter Brown's pointed and lyrical blowing combined with Roach's restless drums and the deliberate sound of Harold Land's tenor saxophone poured the foundation for a new daring and elegant form of hard bop.

By 1956, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins had replaced Land. He did so after turning down Miles Davis's offer in '55 to join his quintet (John Coltrane would take the job). Sonny was signed to Prestige Records and owed the label an album, so Brown, Roach, pianist (and Bud Powell's brother) Richie Powell and bassist George Morrow agreed to record on Sonny's session. The result was the gorgeous and majestic Sonny Rollins Plus 4.

Recorded on March 22, 1956, the album's songs were Sonny's "Valse Hot", Sam Coslow's "Kiss and Run", the standard "I Feel a Song Coming On", Irving Berlin's "Count Your Blessings" and Sonny's "Pent-Up House". Sonny didn't like the album's title, since it minimized Brown and Roach.

In June, the quintet was booked into Chicago's Blue Note. As Aidan Levy writes in his biography "Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins", the five men usually traveled together but split up. Roach, Morrow and Sonny drove from New York to Chicago, stopping only for gas. In advance of the gig, Brown and Powell decided to spend time with family and friends.

After leaving Philadelphia for Chicago the night of June 26, Brown, Powell and Powell's wife, Nancy shared the driving and wound up on Pennsylvania Turnpike in the rain. Nancy lost control of the car while the two musicians were sleeping and crashed. All three were killed instantly.

Sonny Rollins Plus 4 would be the quintet's last and prettiest studio recording. *Marc Myers*

1956, Sonny Rollins was spiritually and physically rejuvenated. And on Sonny Rollins Plus 4, he's clearly inspired by Max Roach and Clifford Brown's depth of spirit. Multi-dimensional re-arrangements of popular songs were a Brown-Roach trademark. "Kiss and Run" is treated to a stop-and-go intro, then settles into a brisk 4/4, as Rollins, Brown, and the perennially underrated Richie Powell fashion long dancing lines. "I Feel a Song Coming On" creates tension by alternating a vamp figure with a swinging release. Rollins takes an immense solo, contrasting chanting figures and foghorn-like long tones with Parker-ish elisions, and Brown answers with buzzing figures and daring harmonic extensions. Then Roach takes things out with sweeping melodic choruses and polyrhythmic fanfares, setting the stage for a torrid tenor-trumpet duel. On "Valse Hot", there's an early example of a successful jazz waltz as Rollins offers up one of his most charming themes. Max Roach treats the European three with the dancing elan of an American four, and Rollins responds by floating in between the beat, syncopating in Monk-ish stabs and thrusts, as Brown answers with the kind of rhythmically complex, sweetly articulated melodic lines that have inspired every modern trumpeter. *Rovi Staff*

Altho Rollins gets top billing here (for contractual reasons) this is the same combo that cut the most recent, excellent Max Roach/Clifford Brown disk on EmArcy. The modern jazz performances here are at least as rewarding, but the billing should favor the EmArcy set. Rollins, a Parker-influenced tenorman, is picking up steam and should develop into a market entity. The late Brown is superb. *Billboard, August 25, 2956*

1 - Valse Hot

(Rollins)

2 - Kiss And Run

(Coslow)

3 - I Feel A Song Coming On

(McHugh, Fields, Oppenheimer)

4 - Count Your Blessings

(Berlin)

5 - Pent-Up House

(Rollins)

Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), Clifford Brown (trumpet [except #4]), Richie Powell (piano), George Morrow (bass), Max Roach (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, March 22, 1956.