''Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2'' is an album by American

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

saxophonist

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

, recorded on April 14, 1957, and released on

Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

later that year.

Background

Recording

It is noted for the appearance of pianists

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

and

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

, both playing on the Monk composition "Misterioso". Monk also plays on his composition "Reflections", while Silver handles the piano duties on all the other tracks.

Release history

It was reissued in 1999 as part of the

Rudy Van Gelder Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including Booker Ervin, John Coltrane, Mil ...

series, remastering done by the

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

, also present on the original recording sessions.

Legacy

British singer-songwriter Joe Jackson paid homage to the album when he mimicked the sleeve for his 1984 album '' Body and Soul''.

Track listing

Side 1

#"Why Don't I?" (Sonny Rollins) – 5:44 #"Wail March" (Rollins) – 6:11 #"Misterioso" (Thelonious Monk,

Denzil Best Denzil DaCosta Best (April 27, 1917 – May 24, 1965) was an American jazz percussionist and composer born in New York City. He was a prominent bebop drummer in the 1950s and early 1960s. Biography Best was born in New York City, into a musi ...

) – 9:24

Side 2

#"Reflections" (Monk) – 7:03 #"

You Stepped Out of a Dream "You Stepped Out of a Dream" is a popular song with music written by Nacio Herb Brown and lyrics by Gus Kahn that was published in 1940. The song has become a pop and jazz standard, with many recorded versions. It was a centerpiece in the 1941 mu ...

" (

Nacio Herb Brown Ignacio Herbert "Nacio Herb" Brown (February 22, 1896 – September 28, 1964) was an American composer of popular songs, movie scores and Broadway theatre music in the 1920s through the early 1950s. Amongst his most enduring work is the sc ...

, Gus Kahn) – 6:24 #"

Poor Butterfly "Poor Butterfly" is a popular song. It was inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera '' Madame Butterfly'' and contains a brief musical quote from the Act two duet ''Tutti i fior'' in the verse. The music was written by Raymond Hubbell, the lyrics by ...

" (

Raymond Hubbell John Raymond Hubbell (June 1, 1879 – December 13, 1954) was an American writer, composer and lyricist. He is best known for the popular song, " Poor Butterfly". Life and career Hubbell was born in Urbana, Ohio. He attended schools in Ur ...

John Golden John Lionel Golden (June 27, 1874 – June 17, 1955) was an American actor, songwriter, author, and theatrical producer. As a songwriter, he is best-known as lyricist for " Poor Butterfly" (1916). He produced many Broadway shows and four film ...

) – 6:06

Personnel

Musicians

– tenor saxophone *

Jay Jay Johnson J. J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biog ...

– trombone (except "Reflections") *

(except "Reflections"),

("Misterioso", "Reflections") – piano *

Paul Chambers Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers Jr. (April 22, 1935 – January 4, 1969) was an American jazz double bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, he has become one of the most widely-known jazz bassists of the hard bop er ...

– bass *

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

– drums

Technical personnel

Alfred Lion Alfred Lion (born Alfred Löw; April 21, 1908 – February 2, 1987) was a German-born American record executive who co-founded the jazz record label Blue Note in 1939. Lion retired in 1967, having sold the company, after producing recordings by le ...

– producer *

– recording engineer, mastering * Harold Feinstein – design *

Francis Wolff Francis Wolff (April 5, 1907 – March 8, 1971) was a record company executive, photographer and record producer. Wolff's skills, as an executive and a photographer, were important contributions to the success of the Blue Note record label. Car ...

– photography * Robert Levin – liner notes

References

Sonny Rollins albums 1957 albums Blue Note Records albums Albums produced by Alfred Lion Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio Albums recorded in a home studio {{1950s-jazz-album-stub