thurs 27.2.

21:00 The Standard Sonny Rollins A Tribute To Sonny Rollins

Autumn Nocturne Martin Zrost
Night And Day Robert Riegler
Love Letters Frank Schwinn
My One And Only Love Monika Trotz
Three Little Words Christian Bachner
Trav'lin' Light Achim Tang
I'll Be Seeing You Helge Hinteregger
My Ship Heinrich Von Kalnein
It Could Happen To You Hans Steiner
Long Ago /And Far Away) Herwig Gradischnig

The interpretation of a piece of music, be it arranged or improvised, is a special pleasure when one knows - or discovers - what it's actually all about. This is part of the reason why the "standard" repertory is so well-loved and why many musicians find it to be the source of such discoveries. Whoever has heard the album "The Standard Sonny Rollins" realizes that this is an absolute "standard", given its unselfconsciousness, freedom of movement, humor and imperturbability... qualities which the French tenorist Barney Wilen summarized perfectly when he said: "Rollins n'a peur de rien" ­ Rollins isn't afraid of anything. Other than of the demands he places on himself. More than once, Rollins - who already established himself as a leading saxophonist at the age of 26, with his legendary St. Thomas recording- withdrew from the so-called "Scene" out of dissatisfaction with the musical results of his work. Sometimes Rollins escaped into drugs or some other time into a job as a caretaker, He also looked for salvation in alcohol or in Asiatic religions until, in the course of an especially deep crisis during the 70s, he realized that his music-making capability should not go unused. Since then, he has blown each note as though it might be his last. "Even if I add a sprinkling of humorous elements, these are very serious moments, because they're a part of me. I don't waste anything I play any more because in the when I'm playing I'm very close to my feelings," he has said. Consequently, Rollins plays everything that touches him... Fusion, Free, Rock, Tschaikowsky or ­ Standards: "I don't care what it is that I'm playing. It only matters what I make out of it and whether it releases something in me." Standard critic and P&B author Ljubisa Tosic remarked that Rollin's greatest accomplishment lay in his understanding that improvisation can enter the utopia of absolute artistry only rarely and momentarily. "The Standard Sonny Rollins" is one of these moments. This album is the absolute "standard". WL

Original Lineup: Rollins: saxophone, Herbie Hancock: piano, Jim Hall: guitar, Dave Izenson, Bob Cranshaw, Teddy Smith: bass, Stu Martin, Mickey Roker: drums

Admission: ATS 200.-

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