Sonny Rollins Quartet - Live Under The Sky '83

2021 release

Recorded at the Yomiuriland Open Theatre East, Tokyo, Japan on July 31st 1983 and broadcast by NHK Radio

1. Jack In The Box
2. Coconut Bread
3. McGhee
4. Mack The Knife

Sonny Rollins - tenor saxophone
Pat Metheny - guitar, guitar synth
Alphonso Johnson - electric bass
Jack DeJohnette - drums

1983 was a good year for Sonny Rollins. He was playing at his best, had an all-star rhythm section and to top it all the National Endowment for the Arts finally honoured him as a “Jazz Master”. Guitarist Pat Metheny, a Rollins devotee, was already well established as one of the most original players of his generation and his solos are worth the admission fee alone. Alphonso Johnson is given plenty of space on his fretless bass, making it clear why Weather Report were reluctant to let him go and Jack DeJohnette’s polyrhythms give the soloists plenty to work with. The originals are taken from Rollins’ No Problem (1981) and Reel Life (1982) LPs and the set finishes with a Sonny staple, Mack The Knife. As always, the shark bites and the crowd go wild.