You Do Something to Me (Sonny Rollins’s version)

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

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Jazz was in a period of re-evaluation and fragmentation into different styles. The postulates of modern tradition were being questioned by the most younger and revolutionary musicians. Rollins’ doubts about himself reflected the struggle of his entire generation to make his way through the chaos.

Some were looking for a great novelty that would bring jazz back the cohesion. Others thought that great figures like Armstrong, Ellington or Parker who could define an era and give momentum to an entire generation were over. Indeed, jazz seemed doomed to plurality, to a situation where change was happening at a dizzying rate.

Rollins makes an introduction and then the rest of the group joins in to play the theme. It’s a romantic song. Then Hall begins his solo by telling his beloved that she’s doing something inside him by mixing his emotions. His discourse is serene and slow, but with quick phrases that embellish it. Then Rollins comes in to perform his solo with beautiful melodies saying he dances through the fire to catch a flame and feel real again. Then he stays playing for a while accompanied only by Hall until Cranshaw and Riley come back and finish the theme.