A Night at the "Village Vanguard"
Live album by
Released1958[1]
RecordedNovember 3, 1957
VenueVillage Vanguard, NYC
GenreHard bop
LabelBlue Note
BLP 1581
ProducerAlfred Lion
Sonny Rollins chronology
Newk's Time
(1957)
A Night at the "Village Vanguard"
(1958)
Sonny Side Up
(1957)

A Night at the "Village Vanguard" is a live album by American jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins recorded at the Village Vanguard in New York City on November 3, 1957 and released on Blue Note the following year. Rollins played three sets, one in the afternoon and two in the evening, with different rhythm sections: Donald Bailey and Pete LaRoca, and Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones, respectively.[2]

Background

Recording

The recording was made by Rudy Van Gelder, and was the first live recording made at the Village Vanguard.[3]

Re-releases

More material from the recording session was discovered in 1976 and released as the double album More from the Vanguard. In 1987, the material from the original and double album was reconstructed in chronological order as two compact discs.[4]

On September 14, 1999, the remastered album was reissued by Blue Note as part of its Rudy Van Gelder series, noticeably improving its sound quality.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Robert ChristgauA−[6]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz[7]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[8]

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow states: "This CD is often magical. Sonny Rollins, one of jazz's great tenors, is heard at his peak... Not only did Rollins have a very distinctive sound, but his use of time, his sly wit, and his boppish but unpredictable style were completely his own by 1957."[5]

Music critic Robert Christgau highly praised the album, writing: "Rollins is charged with venturing far out from these tunes without severing the harmonic moorings normally secured by a piano. He does it again and again—but not without a certain cost in ebullience, texture, and fullness of breath. Impressive always, fun in passing, his improvisations are what avant-garde jazz is for."[6]

The album was identified by Scott Yanow in his AllMusic essay "Hard Bop" as one of the 17 Essential Hard Bop Recordings.[9]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz gave it a maximum four stars plus crown, and included the album in its “core collection”, concluding that "these are record[ing]s which demand a place in any collection".[7]

Track listing

A Night at the "Village Vanguard" (LP, 1958)

All tracks from the evening sets except as indicated.

Side 2
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sonnymoon for Two"Sonny Rollins8:46
2."A Night in Tunisia" (afternoon set)
8:16
3."I Can't Get Started"4:54

A Night at the "Village Vanguard", Volume 1 (CD, 1987)

All tracks from the evening sets except as indicated; program in chronological order as presented originally.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."A Night in Tunisia" (afternoon set)Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli8:16
2."I've Got You Under My Skin" (afternoon set)Cole Porter10:03
3."A Night in Tunisia"Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli9:03
4."Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" (alternate take)Oscar Hammerstein, Sigmund Romberg6:43
5."Four"Miles Davis8:26
6."introduction" 0:20
7."Woody 'n' You"Dizzy Gillespie8:29
8."introduction" 0:36
9."Old Devil Moon"E.Y. Harburg, Burton Lane8:19

A Night at the "Village Vanguard", Volume 2 (CD, 1987)

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."What Is This Thing Called Love"Cole Porter14:03
2."Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise"Oscar Hammerstein, Sigmund Romberg8:03
3."Sonnymoon for Two"Sonny Rollins8:46
4."I Can't Get Started"Ira Gershwin, Vernon Duke4:54
5."I'll Remember April"Don Raye, Patricia Johnston, Gene de Paul9:20
6."Get Happy"Ted Koehler, Harold Arlen9:08
7."Striver's Row"Sonny Rollins5:59
8."All the Things You Are"Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern6:46
9."Get Happy" (alternate take)Ted Koehler, Harold Arlen4:38

Personnel

Musicians

November 3, 1957 – afternoon set

November 3, 1957 – evening sets

Technical personnel

Original

Reissue

  • Michael Cuscuna – producer
  • Ron McMaster – digital transfer
  • Michael Cuscuna, Leonard Feather (original) – liner notes

References

  1. "Billboard". October 27, 1958.
  2. Bailey, C. Michael (August 10, 2005), "Sonny Rollins: A Night At The Village Vanguard" All About Jazz.
  3. Shipton, Alyn (2022). On Jazz: A Personal Journey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 182. ISBN 9781108834230.
  4. Cuscuna, Michael (1987). A Night at the Village Vanguard, Volume 2 (Liner notes). Manhattan Records, a division of Capitol Records, Inc. CDP 7 46518 2 DIDX 1129.
  5. 1 2 Yanow, Scott. "A Night at the Village Vanguard > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  6. 1 2 Christgau, Robert. "A Night at the Village Vanguard > Review". Robert Christgau. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  7. 1 2 Cook, Richard and Brian Morton (2008), The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th edn.) Penguin, p. 1233.
  8. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 170. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  9. Yanow, Scott (November 2, 2010). "Hard Bop (Essay)". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
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