Sonny Meets Hawk!

This 1999 reissue contains three bonus tracks not on the original release.
Personnel: Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins (tenor saxophone); Don Cherry (trumpet); Paul Bley (piano); Bob Cranshaw, Henry Grimes (bass); Roy McCurdy, Billy Higgins (drums).
Producer: George Avakian.
Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, New York, New York in February & July 1963. Includes liner notes by Loren Schoenberg.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Sonny Rollins is considered by many to be the best, or at least the most influential, modern-jazz tenor saxophonist. His elder Coleman Hawkins is widely acknowledged as the earliest innovator of the instrument, making him somewhat of a father figure to reed players; certainly, he was Rollins's biggest idol.
On this 1963 session, Rollins and Hawkins teamed up in an interesting milieu. Hawkins sits in with Rollins's band, and, surprisingly, he plays in a bop-oriented mode. On the other hand, Rollins--in an attempt to further highlight the difference between the two horns--plays in an even more contemporary style. In fact, on "All the Things You Are" and "Lover Man," Rollins occasionally falls into the realm of atonality. As always, Hawkins's playing is fluid, graceful, and polished, while Rollins's sax work is brash, experimental, and angular. However, these obvious differences make SONNY MEETS HAWK! an extremely fascinating listen.