1956 · Saxophone Colossus
The 1954–56 Clifford Brown
Library — Saxophone
Sonny Rollins
11 albums as leader and 9 as sideman (1955–2014), each listed chronologically.
As Leader · 11
As Sideman · 9
That's Him!
Abbey Lincoln With Riverside Jazz Stars, The
1957 · Riverside Records
SidemanTenor Saxophone
1958
Duets
Dizzy Gillespie With Sonny Rollins And Sonny Stitt
1958 · Verve Records
SidemanTenor Saxophone
Notes on these albums · 5
1957 · Way Out West
Way Out West
1991 · Here's To The People
The Way Out West session (1957) began at 3 a.m., because that was the only hour all three players were free — Rollins had night gigs and Shelly Manne had daytime studio work. A scheduling accident that ran until dawn is what survives as the standard pianoless-trio date.
1956 · Rollins Plays For Bird
Kenny Dorham died in 1972. Decades later, an unreleased Blue Note tape of his was unearthed and layered with a new rhythm section for the 2021 album Deciphering the Message, giving the performance its first release only after his death.
1994 · Sonny Rollins & Co. 1964
Bob Cranshaw's unreleased 1964 Blue Note session bass takes weren't destined to gather dust in a vault. In 2021 they resurfaced, rebuilt into a new record called Deciphering the Message.
