SONNY ROLLINS QUARTET - LIVE UNDER THE SKY '83

• sonny rollins quartet: live under the sky '83
      (2021, cd, uk, equinox)

The Equinox record label continues to release radio show concert recordings on CD at an incredible pace.
Next to the 1981 Sonny Rollins concert (that featured George Duke in his band), Equinox also released the 1983 Sonny did in Tokyo.
At that moment in time, the Sonny Rollins Quartet consisted of Sonny Rollins (sax), Pat Metheny (guitar), Alphonso Johnson (fretless bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums).
Not the best audio quality, but a fine opportunity to listen to this amazing line-up.

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.
Performed live at Yomiuriland Open Theatre East, Tokyo, Japan on July 31st 1983, and broadcast on NHK radio.

Here's Sonny live in Paris in 1982 :