''G-Man'' is a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

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 ...

. It was recorded at an outdoor concert on August 16, 1986, held at

Opus 40 ''Opus 40'' is a large environmental sculpture in Saugerties, New York, created by sculptor Harvey Fite (1903—1976). It comprises a sprawling series of dry-stone ramps, pedestals and platforms covering of a bluestone quarry. ''Note:'' This ...

Saugerties, New York Saugerties () is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in the northeastern corner of Ulster County, New York, Ulster County, New York (state), New York. The population was 19,038 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...

. The concert was filmed for a documentary about Rollins, directed by

Robert Mugge Robert Mugge (born May 8, 1950) is an American documentary film maker. He has focused primarily on films about music and musicians, but some of his earliest films were not music focused and he is now continuing to branch out as his interests and ...

, before being released on record in November 1987 by

Milestone Records Milestone Records is an American jazz record company and label founded in 1966 by Orrin Keepnews and Dick Katz in New York City. The company was bought by Fantasy Records in 1972. Since then, it has produced LP reissues (including items from Ke ...

. ''G-Man'' received positive reviews from critics, some of whom called it one of Rollins' best albums.

Background

The performances on ''G-Man'' were recorded on August 16, 1986, at

in Saugerties, where Rollins performed an outdoor concert with an ensemble that featured trombonist

Clifton Anderson Clifton Elliot Anderson (born October 5, 1957) is an American jazz trombonist. Early life Anderson was born in New York City on October 5, 1957. "His mother was a singer and his father was an organist." When he was seven, Anderson's uncle, saxop ...

, bass player

Bob Cranshaw Melbourne Robert Cranshaw (December 3, 1932 – November 2, 2016) was an American jazz bassist. His career spanned the heyday of Blue Note Records as a house bassist to his later involvement with the Musicians Union. He is perhaps best known f ...

, pianist

Mark Soskin Mark Samuel Soskin (born 1953) is an American jazz pianist based in New York City. Discography As leader * ''Rhythm Vision,'' Prestige (1980); * ''Overjoyed,'' Jazz City (1991); * ''Views From Here,'' King (1992); * ''Calypso & Jazz Arou ...

, and drummer

Marvin "Smitty" Smith Marvin "Smitty" Smith (born June 24, 1961) is an American jazz drummer and composer. Marvin Smith was born in Waukegan, Illinois, where his father, Marvin Sr., was a drummer. "Smitty" was exposed to music at a young age, receiving formal musical ...

. The concert was originally filmed for ''Saxophone Colossus'',

's documentary on Rollins. Some tenor saxophone parts were recorded in studio on April 9, 1987, and

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...

onto the track "Kim", and ''G-Man'' was released in November of that year by

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

wrote that Rollins' ensemble sounds inspired by his innovative and radical saxophone playing on ''G-Man'', which he called "jazz for rock-and-rollers to cut their teeth on. It's exciting, fun, a gas, all that stuff great rock and roll is supposed to be and so rarely is these days." Larry Hollis of ''

Cadence Magazine ''Cadence: The Independent Journal of Creative Improvised Music'' is a quarterly review of jazz, blues and improvised music. The magazine covers a range of styles, from early jazz and blues to the avant-garde. Critic and historian Bob Rusch f ...

'' said it is the most satisfying record from Rollins' tenure at Milestone and highlighted the title track, calling it "an exhaustive steamroller that will stand up to return listens" because of how Rollins maintains interest with a variety of techniques and sounds: "Jagged lines breaking up smoother passages, random squeals, whinnies and shakes drawn from the honking R&B history book or dropping down into the cellar for some low register long tones sometimes split into quick octave leaps". Christgau later named it the best album of 1987 in his list for the annual

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

critics poll, and in 1990 he named it the fourth-best album of the 1980s. In a retrospective review for ''

Wondering Sound eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. In exchange for a monthly subscription eMusic users can download a fixed number of MP3 tracks per month. eMusic was established in 1998, is headquartered in New York Ci ...

'', journalist Fred Kaplan cited ''G-Man'' as one of Rollins' greatest records and expressed amazement at his solos and strong rapport with the band, calling their music "head spinning". According to jazz critic

Gary Giddins Gary Giddins (born 1948) is an American jazz critic and author. He wrote for ''The Village Voice'' from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986, Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented conc ...

, the album was Rollins' "ultimate statement on the middle ground he sought between traditional constraints and

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

—a disciplined howl of joy that seemed to steady him for the inevitable task of building a postfusion repertory". Jazz historian

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

was more reserved in his praise, writing in a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

that Rollins is "in good form, saying little that it is new but delivering passionate messages with his typical spirit".

Track listing

All compositions by Sonny Rollins, except where noted # "G-Man" - 15:19 # "Kim" - 5:58 # "Don't Stop the Carnival" (Traditional; arranged by Rollins) - 11:18 # "Tenor Madness" - 12:01 (CD only)

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 (whi ...

–

trombone The trombone (, 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 lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

–

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

–

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1987 live albums Sonny Rollins live albums Milestone Records live albums