Tour de Force (Sonny Rollins album)

Summary

Tour de Force is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins containing his final recordings for the Prestige label. Rollins performed with Kenny Drew, George Morrow, and Max Roach, with vocals by Earl Coleman on two tracks.[2]

Tour de Force
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 1958[1]
RecordedDecember 7, 1956
Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey
GenreJazz
Length41:40
LabelPrestige
PR 7126
ProducerBob Weinstock
Sonny Rollins chronology
Rollins Plays for Bird
(1956)
Tour de Force
(1958)
Sonny Boy
(1956)

Reception edit

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz    [4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide     [5]

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow states: "Rollins was in consistently creative form during this prime period but the overall set is not as classic as most of the tenor's other recordings from the 1950s."[3] The Penguin Guide to Jazz describes it as being "almost as good as Colossus, with the ferocious abstractions of 'B Swift' and 'B Quick' contrasting with the methodical, almost surgical destruction of 'Sonny Boy'."[4]

Track listing edit

All compositions by Sonny Rollins except as indicated
  1. "Ee-Ah" – 6:52
  2. "B. Quick" – 9:13
  3. "Two Different Worlds" (Al Frisch, Sid Wayne) – 7:37
  4. "B. Swift" – 5:15
  5. "My Ideal" (Newell Chase, Leo Robin, Richard A. Whiting) – 4:21
  6. "Sonny Boy" (Lew Brown, Buddy DeSylva, Ray Henderson, Al Jolson) – 8:22 Bonus track on CD rerelease

Personnel edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Billboard". March 31, 1958.
  2. ^ Sonny Rollins discography, accessed October 8, 2009.
  3. ^ a b Yanow, Scott. "Tour de Force > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2002). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD (6th edn), Penguin Books. ISBN 9780140515213
  5. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 172. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.