Rollins played three sets, one in the afternoon and two in the evening, with different rhythm sections: Donald Bailey and Pete LaRoca, and Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones, respectively.[2] The recording was made by Rudy Van Gelder, and was the first live recording made at the Village Vanguard.[3]
Release history
More material from the recording session was discovered in 1976 and released as the double album More from the Vanguard. In 1987, the material from the original and double album was reconstructed in chronological order as two compact discs.[4]
On September 14, 1999, the remastered album was reissued by Blue Note as part of its Rudy Van Gelder series.
On April 26, 2024, the album was again reissued by Blue Note, remastered for the first time from the original master tapes.
The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow states: "This CD is often magical. Sonny Rollins, one of jazz's great tenors, is heard at his peak... Not only did Rollins have a very distinctive sound, but his use of time, his sly wit, and his boppish but unpredictable style were completely his own by 1957."[5]
Music critic Robert Christgau highly praised the album, writing: "Rollins is charged with venturing far out from these tunes without severing the harmonic moorings normally secured by a piano. He does it again and again—but not without a certain cost in ebullience, texture, and fullness of breath. Impressive always, fun in passing, his improvisations are what avant-garde jazz is for."[6]
The album was identified by Scott Yanow in his AllMusic essay "Hard Bop" as one of the 17 Essential Hard Bop Recordings.[9]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz gave it a maximum four stars plus crown, and included the album in its “core collection”, concluding that "these are record[ing]s which demand a place in any collection".[7]
Track listing
A Night at the "Village Vanguard" (LP, 1958)
All tracks from the evening sets except as indicated.
^Bailey, C. Michael (August 10, 2005), "Sonny Rollins: A Night At The Village Vanguard" All About Jazz.
^Shipton, Alyn (2022). On Jazz: A Personal Journey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 182. ISBN9781108834230.
^Cuscuna, Michael (1987). A Night at the Village Vanguard, Volume 2 (Liner notes). Manhattan Records, a division of Capitol Records, Inc. CDP 7 46518 2 DIDX 1129.
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