finetune artist: Sonny Rollins

"Saxophone colossus" is not a bad description for a tenor player who is one of the greatest living jazz artists. Sonny Rollins made his first record date at the age of 19 in the late 1940s, and unlike Parker and Coltrane, the magnitude of his talent was immediately apparent. After strip-mining the hard-bop vein in the early '50s, he absorbed from Monk the notion of using the melody rather than the changes in his improvising. An urbane, sardonic counterpart to Coltrane's incantatory searcher, Rollins is capable of playing hour-long unaccompanied solos of flawless invention with the most powerful sound ever wrung from a saxophone.

Listen to Sonny Rollins at Finetune.

(2008) A Night At The Village Vanguard, Volume 1
(2008) Plays For Bird
(2008) The Complete Blue Note Recordings
(2008) Freedom Suite
(2008) Road Shows, Vol.1
(2007) Plus Four [Rudy Van Gelder edition]
(2007) The Essential Sonny Rollins On Riverside
(2007) Sonny Rollins- Volume 1 (Rudy Van Gelder Edition)
(2007) Sound Of Sonny [Keepnews Collection]
(2007) Sonny Rollins [2-fer]
(2007) On Impulse!
(2007) The Way I Feel
(2007) Sunny Days, Starry Nights
(2007) Silver City (A Celebration Of 25 Years Of Milestone)
(2007) The Freelance Years
(2006) Nucleus
(2006) Dancing In The Dark
(2006) Here's To The People
(2006) Old Flames
(2006) Love At First Sight
(2006) Easy Living
(2006) No Problem
(2006) Sonny, Please
(2006) Sonny Rollins With The Modern Jazz Quartet
(2006) The Sound Of Sonny
(2006) Moving Out
(2006) Freedom Suite
(2006) Rollins Plays For Byrd
(2006) Sonny Rollins' Next Album
(2006) The Solo Album
(2006) Jazz Showcase
(2006) Sonny Rollins + 3
(2006) Global Warming
(2006) This Is What I Do
(2006) Worktime
(2006) Sonny Rollins And The Contempory Leaders
(2006) The Cutting Edge
(2006) Don't Stop The Carnival
(2006) Tour De Force
(2006) Horn Culture
(2006) Sonny Boy
(2006) Don't Ask
(2006) G-Man
(2006) Falling In Love With Jazz
(2006) Without A Song The 9/11 Concert
(2006) Saxophone Colossus
(2006) The Best Of Sonny Rollins
(2006) Saxophone Colossus
(2006) Sonny Rollins With The Modern Jazz Quartet
(2006) Plus Four
(2006) Saxophone Colossus
(2006) Way Out West
(2006) Prestige Profiles: Sonny Rollins
(2006) The Impulse Story
(2006) Milestone Profiles: Sonny Rollins
(2005) Brass/Trio
(2005) The Very Best
(2005) The Essential Sonny Rollins: The RCA Years
(2004) Newk's Time (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition)
(2004) The Best of Sonny Rollins
(2004) A Night At The Village Vanguard
(2003) The Bridge
(2002) Ballads (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition)
(2002) Tenor Titan
(2002) Sonny Rollins's Finest Hour
(2000) Sonny Rollins: Ken Burns's Jazz
(2000) Sonny Rollins: The Best of the Complete RCA Victor Recordings
(1999) Prestige 50th Anniversary Special Commemorative Edition
(1999) Sonny Meets Hawk!
(1999) Volume Two (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition)
(1999) Sonny Rollins And The Big Brass
(1998) Global Warming
(1998) Greatest Hits Series--Sonny Rollins
(1997) Sonny Side Up
(1997) Priceless Jazz 6: Sonny Rollins
(1997) Sonny Rollins On Impulse!
(1997) Alfie
(1997) The Complete RCA Victor Recordings
(1995) East Broadway Run Down
(1995) Sonny Rollins & Co. 1964
(1990) Newk's Time
(1988) Volume One
(1958) Freedom Suite
(1957) Way Out West
(1956) Saxophone Colossus

St. Thomas
The Way You Look Tonight
God Bless the Child
Blue 7
Nutty