Music Monday: Sonny Rollins

I had some traveling and a bit of low-stakes writing to do and that gave me some time to listen to music. I decided to give some 1970s Sonny Rollins a listen. Some of this stuff is pretty unadventurous, but it still sounds great.

For example, Rollins’ Nucleus (1975) rarely gets critical attention (even on its 50th anniversary), but I’ve never heard anyone say that it’s not a damn entertaining albums.

In many ways, it’s anticipated by Sonny Rollins’ Next Album (1972) which is enlivened by George Cables’ keyboards:

Between these two releases was The Cutting Edge (1974) which he recorded live at the Montreaux jazz festival. I’m not sure that it is my favorite 1970s Rollins album, but his version of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” with Rufus Harley on bagpipes is pretty epic: