''Nucleus'' is an album by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ...

Sonny Rollins, released on the

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

label in 1975, featuring performances by Rollins with

George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

Raul de Souza Raul de Souza (23 August 1934 -– 23 June 2021), also known as Raulzinho, was a Brazilian trombonist who recorded with Sérgio Mendes, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Milton Nascimento, Sonny Rollins, Hermeto Pascoal, Cal Tjader and the jazz/fusi ...

, Bennie Maupin, Chuck Rainey, Eddie Moore,

Mtume Mtume (pronounced ''em-tu-may'') was an American funk and soul group that rose to prominence during the early 1980s and had several R&B hits during its career. Its founder, former percussionist James Mtume, previously played and toured with M ...

, Bob Cranshaw and Roy McCurdy.Sonny Rollins discography
accessed September 28, 2009. It was recorded at

Fantasy Studios Fantasy Studios was a music recording studio in Berkeley, California, at the Zaentz Media Center, known for its recording of award-winning albums including Journey's ''Escape'' and Green Day's ''Dookie''. Built as a private recording studio for ...

, Berkeley, CA, on September 2–5, 1975.

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review by Scott Yanow states: "This funky date has its moments (including an updated version of "

My Reverie "My Reverie" is a 1938 popular song with lyrics by Larry Clinton. Its melody is based on the 1890 piano piece ''Rêverie'' by the French classical composer Claude Debussy. Recordings A 1938 recording of the song by Clinton and his band with Be ...

") but falls far short of hinting at any new innovations." Music critic Robert Christgau praised the album, writing: "This is as rich an r&b saxophone record as I know, combining repetition and invention, melodies recalled and melodies unimaginable, in proportions that define the difference between selling out and reaching out.... If you really believe you don't like 'jazz,' this is as good a place to start as any."

Track listing

All compositions by Sonny Rollins except as indicated. # "Lucille" - 6:08 # "Gwaligo" - 5:58 # "Are You Ready?" - 4:08 # "Azalea" - 4:46 # "Newkleus" (

James Mtume James Forman (January 3, 1946January 9, 2022), known professionally as Mtume or James Mtume, was an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist, and radio personality. He came to prominence as a jazz musician, working ...

) - 5:17 # "Cosmet" - 7:20 # "My Reverie" (

Larry Clinton Larry Clinton (August 17, 1909 – May 2, 1985) was an American musician, best known as a trumpeter who became a prominent American bandleader and arranger. Biography Clinton was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He became a ver ...

, based on Claude Debussy's "Reverie") - 7:39

Personnel

*Sonny Rollins -

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, electric piano &

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

(track 1,3,5-7) *

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

(tracks 1-4,6,7) * Bennie Maupin -

(all),

soloist on 4,

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

(track 7),

saxello The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

(track 6),

lyricon The Lyricon is an electronic wind instrument, the first wind controller to be constructed. Invented by Bill Bernardi (and co-engineered by Roger Noble and with the late Lyricon performer Chuck GreenbergIngham (1998) p.184), filed for patent on ...

(track 5) * Blackbyrd McKnight - guitar (tracks: 1-3,5,6); soloist on 2,3 *David Amaro - guitar; soloist on 1 * Chuck Rainey -

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

(tracks 1-3,6) * Bob Cranshaw - electric bass (tracks 4,5,7) *Eddie Moore -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(tracks 1-3,6) * Roy McCurdy - drums (tracks 4,5,7) *

congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(1-4,6), lead guitar (track 5)

References

{{Authority control 1975 albums Milestone Records albums Sonny Rollins albums Albums produced by Orrin Keepnews