Where Are You? (Sonny Rollins’s version)

Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), Jim Hall (guitar), Bob Cranshaw (bass) and Ben Riley (drums). From the album The Bridge (1962).

Jim Hall was one of the most important guitarist in the history of jazz, but he has also earned critical praise for his skills as a composer and arranger. He played with the Chico Hamilton’s quintet and then with the Jimmy Giuffre Three trio, where he discovered his musical preferences. He toured with the Jazz at the Philharmonic and worked with Ben Webster, Bill Evans, Paul Desmond, Ella Fitzgerald in Europe, Lee Konitz, Sonny Rollins and Art farmer.

In 1962 he led a trio with Tommy Flanagan and Ron Carter. Hall was also a composer and arranger and during the 1970s he recorded classical music. During the 1980s he played in a trio with Wayne Shorter and Michel Petruciani. In the 1990s he kept recording and touring all over the world. He recorded two duet albums with Bill Evans and one with Pat Metheny, and in 1994 recorded a solo album. He died in Manhattan in 2013 at 83 years old.

The theme is a typical ballad that Rollins gently plays at slow tempo. He expresses his feelings masterfully with the saxophone. Next comes Hall playing a duet with Cranshaw a beautiful melody. Rollins returns whispering sweet words of love and giving way to Hall, who makes a solo with softness and tenderness. Rollins comes back as a duet with Hall for a while until Cranshaw and Riley join the group again. Rollins continues to describe the beauty of his beloved until the end of the theme.