“Blues for Philly Joe”

“We have to make ourselves as perfect as we can“ - Sonny Rollins

Sonny Rollins is the kind of perfectionist I strive to be. “Blues for Philly Joe“ is from Newk’s time (1957), Rollins’ third record for Blue Note. He is accompanied by Philly Joe Jones on drums, Wynton Kelly on piano and Doug Watkins on bass. It is humbling and inspiring to see the ways in which Rollins’ stretches out his vocabulary. The first motif goes through so many rhythmic variations and the solo stays rather diatonic apart for a few chromatic enclosures here and there, and he keeps certain melodies and rhythms consistent throughout. Notice how measure 7 of the first 5 chorus is more or less the same melody and rhythm (sometimes it is displaced by a beat). All of this consistency is not only masterful and engaging to the listener, but it creates a backdrop that will make anything “outside” sound breathtaking. So, after implying his first clear harmonic substitution in chorus 7, the line “breaks through the clouds.” Through incredible attention to detail, he masters improvisation on a macro-level and creates such organic momentum in his solo.