''Tenor Madness'' is an album by jazz musician

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 ...

released in October 1956 by

Prestige Records Prestige Records is a jazz record company and label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock in New York City which issued recordings in the mainstream, bop, and cool jazz idioms. The company recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz music ...

. It is most notable for its title track, the only known recording featuring both Rollins and

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

History

Rollins, who had recorded with

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

in 1954 and briefly joined Davis's working group in the summer of 1955, recruited the members of Davis's " First Great Quintet" to back him for the ''Tenor Madness'' session. This included, on the title cut only, fellow saxophonist Coltrane. Both were emerging as prominent

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 ...

players, though Rollins had been recording under his own name for several years, while Coltrane's debut album under his own name would not be released until 1957. At the time of the ''Tenor Madness'' session, Rollins was a member of the

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...

Clifford Brown Clifford Benjamin Brown (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956) was an American jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer. He died at the age of 25 in a car crash, leaving behind four years' worth of recordings. His compositions "Sandu", "Joy Sprin ...

Quintet, and two months before the session, he had recorded as a leader the LP '' Sonny Rollins Plus 4'' with the fellow members of that group. Two weeks before the ''Tenor Madness'' session, Coltrane,

Red Garland William McKinley "Red" Garland Jr. (May 13, 1923 – April 23, 1984) was an American modern jazz pianist. Known for his work as a bandleader and during the 1950s with Miles Davis, Garland helped popularize the block chord style of playing in jazz ...

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 ...

, and

Philly Joe Jones Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American Jazz drumming, jazz drummer. Biography Early career As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio stat ...

, recorded material with Davis for Prestige Records that would be later released on the albums '' Workin''', '' Relaxin''', and '' Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet''. Critic Chris Kelsey wrote that although the rhythm section's playing on ''Tenor Madness'' was "somewhat less vital" than on the Miles Davis Quintet session of May, 1956,Review of ''Tenor Madness''
by Chris Kelsey on Jazz.com the historical importance of ''Tenor Madness'' lies in the title track. It is the only existing recording with Rollins and Coltrane playing together.Review of "Van Gelder's CD Remastering of a Rollins' Classic"
by Dan Krow on November 14, 2006, on Audaud.com. Retrieved September 19, 2014. The title track is a 12-minute showcase for Rollins and Coltrane. While the title piece's B-flat blues melody has become closely associated with Rollins, it was first recorded in 1946 by Kenny Clarke and His 52nd Street Boys as "Royal Roost", and has also been recorded under the title "Rue Chaptal." "Royal Roost" is usually credited as a Kenny Clarke composition; as "Tenor Madness," it was credited to Sonny Rollins. It is easy to distinguish between the two saxophonists on the track "Tenor Madness", as Coltrane has a much brighter and more boisterous sound as compared to Rollins' smoother, "wet-reed" tone. However, as jazz critic Dan Krow said, the two complement each other, and the track does not sound like a competition between the two rising saxophonists. "Paul's Pal" is a composition by Rollins named for bassist

. "

When Your Lover Has Gone "When Your Lover Has Gone" is a 1931 composition by Einar Aaron Swan which, after being featured in the James Cagney film '' Blonde Crazy'' that same year, has become a jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an importa ...

" is a 1931 composition by

Einar Aaron Swan Einar Aaron Swan (born Einar (Eino) William Swan; March 20, 1903 – August 8, 1940) was an American musician, arranger and composer. He is known for writing songs including " When Your Lover Has Gone" and " In the Middle of a Dream". Early life S ...

re-interpreted as a drum-driven blues track. The ballad " My Reverie" (an adaptation of a Claude Debussy's 1890 piano piece "Rêverie") is one of Rollins's best known 1950s ballad recordings. "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", a tune from the 1935 musical ''

Jumbo Jumbo (December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and then tr ...

'', is a Rodgers & Hart composition which goes here from a jazz waltz to a fast-paced 4/4 tune.

Reception

The

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 ...

review by Michael G. Nastos calls the album "a recording that should stand proudly alongside '' Saxophone Colossus'' as some of the best work of Sonny Rollins in his early years, it's also a testament to the validity, vibrancy, and depth of modern jazz in the post-World War era. It belongs on everybody's shelf." Author and musician Peter Niklas Wilson called it "one of the most famous combo recordings of the 1950s."

Track listing

All tracks by Sonny Rollins except where noted. #"Tenor Madness" – 12:16 #"

" (

) – 6:11 #"Paul's Pal" – 5:12 #" My Reverie" ( Larry Clinton,

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

) – 6:08 #" The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" (

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers wa ...

Lorenz Hart Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon"; " The Lady Is a Tramp"; "Manhattan"; " Bewitched, Bo ...

) – 5:37

Personnel

– tenor saxophone *

– tenor saxophone (#1 only) *

– piano *

– double bass *

– drums

References

{{Authority control Sonny Rollins albums 1956 albums Prestige Records albums Albums produced by Bob Weinstock Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio Albums recorded in a home studio