May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins Passes Away at 95
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
On Aug. 23, a Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie concert recorded June 22, 1945, at New York’s Town Hall will be released on Uptown Records. The six-song set, which features “Bebop,” “A Night In Tunesia,” “Groovin’ High,” “Salt Peanuts,” “Hot House” and “Fift Second Street Theme,” has never been issued.
Joining Parker and Gillespie on stage are tenor saxophonist Don Byas on “Bebop,” Al Haig on piano, Max Roach on drums (replaced by Sid Catlett on “Hot House” and “Fifty Second Street Theme”). Symphony Sid Torin emcees the evening.
The high-quality recording was discovered by Uptown Records owner Robert Sunnenblick, and the story of the set’s discovery is related in a 30-page booklet accompanying the set.
Dizzy Gillespie-Charlie Parker: Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945 will be released on Aug. 23.
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
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