Sonny Rollins – Way Out West / Contemporary Records Audio CD Stereo / UCCO-99025

UPC 4988005844682

Way Out West is a 1957 album by Sonny Rollins with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne, neither of whom had previously played or recorded with Rollins. The music employs a technique called "strolling", used here by Rollins for the first time, in which he would solo over only bass and drums with no pianist or guitarist playing chords. The recent reissue of the CD has additional takes of three of the songs, including the title track. These additional takes are all about twice as long, containing much longer solos from all three members of the band.

According to the liner notes by producer Lester Koenig, recording began at 3:00 a.m. to fit the musicians' busy schedules, but at 7 a.m., after four hours of intense concentration, during which they recorded half the album, and should have been exhausted, Sonny said, 'I'm hot now.' Shelly who had been up for 24 hours, said, 'Man, I feel like playing.' And Ray, who was equally tired and had a studio call for the afternoon, just smiled."

The cover photo, taken by celebrated jazz photographer William Claxton, shows Rollins dressed in a Stetson hat, holster and horn in place of a pistol. The photo concept was Rollins' own idea to celebrate his first trip West.

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