Sonny Rollins - The Impulse Story

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Sonny Rollins - The Impulse Story

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Sonny Rollins issued only three albums on the Impulse! label, all of them recorded between 1965 and 1966. This volume in The Impulse Story series features three tracks each from Sonny Rollins on Impulse!, Alfie (the music included consists of re-recorded titles he wrote for the score), and East Broadway Run Down. These three albums feature Rollins in a number of settings. The numbers from Alfie were recorded with a ten-piece band arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson. The On Impulse! tunes were recorded with ace drummer Mickey Roker, pianist Ray Bryant, and bassist Walter Booker. East Broadway Run Down features the great saxophonist in the company of Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison, and Freddie Hubbard on the title track. What they all reveal is an artist at the absolute top of his game as an improviser and as a composer. Rollins' star may have shone differently from Coltrane's during these years, but just as brightly. The standout cuts on this set are the the standard "On Green Dolphin Street," "Alfie's Theme," and the stunning 20-plus-minute "East Broadway Run Down," with Rollins blowing further out than he ever had on one of his own records.

Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Unlike his staggeringly prolific labelmate John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins only recorded three albums for Impulse during his tenure there in the 1960s. Yet the tenor saxophonist still showed himself, on the basis of this material, to be one of the leading players in the game.
IMPULSE STORY culls equally from each of Rollins`s releases for the label, featuring work from the big band-centered ALFIE (with arrangements by conductor Oliver Nelson); the sharp, small combo-oriented SONNY ROLLINS ON IMPULSE!; and EAST BROADWAY RUN DOWN, featuring drummer Elvin Jones, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. The extended title track from EAST BROADWAY is the set`s highlight, with Rollins turning in a dazzling, ferociously adventurous solo.