Sonny Rollins - Brass/Trio (Verve Vault Series)

Sonny Rollins plays two very different hands on Brass/Trio, a 1958 session reissued as part of the Verve Vault Series on 180-gram vinyl.

Recorded in New York in July 1958, the album catches Rollins in the middle of a remarkable run and shows off his range by dropping him into two opposite settings. One side surrounds his tenor with a punchy brass ensemble arranged and conducted by Ernie Wilkins. The other strips everything back to saxophone, bass and drums, leaving nowhere to hide.

On the brass side, "Who Cares?" and "Love Is a Simple Thing" find him riding the horn charts with swaggering confidence, darting through the gaps in Wilkins' arrangements over a rhythm section of Dick Katz, Rene Thomas, Henry Grimes and Roy Haynes.

The trio side, cut with Grimes and drummer Specs Wright, is looser and more exposed. "Manhattan" gets a breezy, conversational reading that bends the old standard into new shapes, and "Body & Soul" becomes a showcase for the warmth and invention of his tone, every phrase sounding thought through and spontaneous at once.

As a Verve Vault Series edition on heavyweight vinyl, it is a smart pickup for anyone who already owns Saxophone Colossus and wants to hear Rollins stretch out in a different direction.