Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), Ray Brown (bass) and Shelly Manne (drums). From the album Way Out West (1957).
I’m on my way southbound hitchhiking in North Carolina. Watching the road I pray to God and see headlights approaching. I reached the coast in 17 hours, I hope I get to Raleigh to see my son tonight. I'm escaping from the cold of New England. I was born to be a violinist in a chamber ensemble.
My son plays guitar and I play banjo, and when we play together we feel close to each other. Northern winters depress me and make me sick. I lost my money playing poker and had to leave the city. Walking south, a truck took me and the truck driver offered me a cigarette. I hear my son calling me from the south.
The theme starts again with Manne imitating the footsteps of a horse with the drums, then comes Brown, who plays some phrases, and then Rollins exposes the theme riding through the meadow. The theme changes to 4/4 meter and Rollins begins his solo reveling on each note. He goes at medium tempo alternating short and quick sentences with other longer and quieter ones. He builds his discourse step by step, phrase after phrase, sometimes accelerating and then slowing down. Next comes Brown with a long solo, simple but suggestive. Then Manne appears making a solid solo with the brushes, the group re-exposes the theme and Rollins still has time to show off by playing a brief passage to finish on horseback.
© Contemporary Records