Yup! This is as good as this artform gets. What recording is this? I could easily persuade myself that we've got NHØP and Alan Dawson -- à la part of the Jazz Icon DVD cast -- but this version stretches way longer than anything on that…

 

Yup! This is as good as this artform gets.

Only if you don't have a musical personality to add your own take. Not trying to be contentious, but that clip is all about musical personality.. Sonny personality. It's great to acknowledge that. But I thought Jazz was all about doing your own thing

 

Is that Sonny completely? I hear some Dexterisms in the solo(s).

BTW, that's the way to hear Sonny - live. I've heard him live several times and they are astounding every time. Always something unexpected out of left field to throw you clean out of your seat.

 

:love2:

 

***?? That's slammin'!

 

Yup...this is what I want to play like one day!!! There is nothing better than Sonny when he is in the zone and swingin' his arse off. True improv at it's best.

You can hear where Branford stole all his stuff from LoL

 

Yup, live is best!

 

Can anyone describe his approach here? To me it sounds like mostly arpeggiated chord patterns with frequent jumps in large intervals. am I in the ballpark here? It doesn't seem very melodic and I doubt that's what he was going for. It seems like it's more about a physical / intellectual workout and trying to maintain a high level of intensity. The tone seems pretty aggressive as well.

 

Sonny so swinging and such a big sound. Tearing through the changes. I also really like Joe Henderson's live version of this.

 

This might be a corny and obscure reference to some, but what the hell: as I was watching this, the movie "The Matrix" came to mind -- specifically, all the times where Neo is told that the matrix is just a construct, and when you reach the highest level of awareness you can sort of bend it to your will and do the "impossible."

That, to me, is Sonny here -- he doesn't just *play* the changes; he TRANSCENDS them. He regularly goes to places that are way out harmonically, but he pulls it off because he totally OWNS the form: no matter how hard he's pushing the harmonic, and technical, and rhythmic, envelopes, he always knows *exactly* where he's at, and therefore goes wherever the hell he wants WITH IMPUNITY!

This clip captures what I love about him. It's like the Jazz Icon DVD, but really stretching out. It reminds me of the 1959 live bootleg from Aix-En-Provence: it's just a trio, and it's noisy enough that it almost sounds like a house party, with Kenny Clarke (!!) on drums. It's *thrilling* playing. Meanwhile, on one of the tunes he trades fours with KC *FOREVER* -- just crazy long -- and when the whole thing's over you hear him say to Kenny "Aw, man, I thought we were gonna stretch!"

 

This clip captures what I love about him. It's like the Jazz Icon DVD, but really stretching out. It reminds me of the 1959 live bootleg from Aix-En-Provence: it's just a trio, and it's noisy enough that it almost sounds like a house party, with Kenny Clarke (!!) on drums. It's *thrilling* playing. Meanwhile, on one of the tunes he trades fours with KC *FOREVER* -- just crazy long -- and when the whole thing's over you hear him say to Kenny "Aw, man, I thought we were gonna stretch!"

That's the REAL Sonny. To be frank, some of his recent albums seem boring to me ; Sonny is THE man for great live sessions. I may have seen him live about 10 times and it's always been a gas. I even heard him in Antibes some months after his wife's death ; brought the audience to tears in an unforgettable concert.

 

What year is this?

 

See here:

Kelly, one comment under the clip mentions as possible rhythm section Kenny Drew on piano, Niels Henning on bass and Tootie Heath on drums (late 60's recording in Denmark).

 

Damn.....

 

Without a doubt!!!

 

Sonny plays like he his commenting on what he just said. And he is always composing. The theme ends, but the theme continues, just expanded. But he is his own call and response. And harmonically....well, god couldn't improve on the density of his chord playing.

 

Yeah, this is a wonderful description of That Which Goes Down here...

But if I were to guess I would say maybe this is material from Ronnie Scott's in London from January 1965. If that's so, it would be Rick Laird on bass, Ronnie Stephenson on drums, and Stan Tracey on piano.

The Ronnie Scott's material, unlike the Jazz Icons stuff, was not professionally recorded and has all kinds of sonic imperfections, as in this particular track in which we can hear what sounds like someone practicing clarinet in the background, probably bleeding through from a recording on the other side of the tape (most obvious during the bass solo). The Ronnie Scott's stuff has been issued on bootlegs, including at least one other version of "Four" that's similar in length and approach. Also the bass player does not sound to me like NHOP, although I wouldn't want to put any money on my ability to differentiate between bassists sight unseen. My guess is that this is from a copy of a copy of the Ronnie Scott tapes.

Anyway... yes, yes, yes, absolutely marvelous stuff. Sonny is a motherlode of inspiration.

I love trying to figure stuff like this out!

I've finally had a chance to listen to the whole thing over decent speakers, and I think this is definitely NOT the Ronnie Scott 1965 material, for 3 reasons:

1) At least based on the RS boots that I've heard, the balance is all wrong: on those, the piano is WAAAAY louder in the mix. Now, it's possible that this was someone else somewhere else in the room recording this at that gig, but that seems unlikely...

2) This corresponds to none of the versions of Four that I've heard from the Ronnie Scott boots (I think I've heard 2 versions of Four from RS; this is neither...).

3) This is the main thing: That is DEFINITIVELY Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass: the time feel, the walking lines, his solo. I'm entirely convinced it's him, and can point out NHØPisms in his solo as well...

So Denmark 1968 is feeling pretty persuasive to me right now ... but I am open to more data!

 

Sonny!

 

So good. He never gets old for me!

 

Thanks for posting this!

 

I clicked on the link, and it started playing on over a black screen - if you right click and hit "save as" at that point it let me download the file to my computer - this is on firefox though, may be different elsewhere.

 

Got it! Thanks...I didn't think to try that.

 

Thanks guys, just handy with google .