Consisting of a pair of concerts in Copenhagen originally taped for television broadcast, it finds Mr. Rollins, the great tenor saxophonist, in casual form but at a creative peak, improvising with an astonishing flow of ideas. In the loose but invigorating 1965 performance he digs in with Alan Dawson, a whip-smart and underdocumented Boston drummer, and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, a precociously nimble Danish bassist. The 1968 concert feels a bit more settled and less surprising, with Mr. Rollins and Mr. Orsted Pedersen alongside Kenny Drew on piano and Albert (Tootie) Heath on drums. In both instances theres a deceptively breezy version of Mr. Rollinss signature calypso St. Thomas, and he makes each feel like a fresh opportunity.
Similar magic unfolds on Sonny Rollins in Vienne, a new concert DVD, and Road Shows: Vol. 1, a compilation album. Released a few weeks ago on Doxy/Emarcy, they draw from the more recent past, a period of prodigious touring for Mr. Rollins and his working bands. The strongest stuff appears on Road Shows, a bonanza for admirers of latter-day Rollins (and perhaps a rejoinder to those who still pine for the Sonny of yore). One highlight is a restless ramble through Easy Listening, recorded in Warsaw in 1980. Another comes from last years Carnegie Hall concert with the drummer Roy Haynes and the bassist Christian McBride; its Some Enchanted Evening, a song whose title would seem to apply to most of the evenings captured here, and presumably more to come.
