SONNY ROLLINS & THE CONTEMPORARY LEADER

This was Sonny's second Contemporary album and his second West Coast session, a year and a half after the historic Way Out West. Jazz labels acquire "personalities" not only from the musical tastes of the owner/recording director but also from the roster of musicians signed to the company. The "Contemporary Sound"-every bit as distinctive as the competing "Blue Note Sound," "Prestige Sound," and "Pacific Jazz Sound"-was largely a product of the work by Hampton Hawes, Barney Kessel, and Shelly Manne, all of whom had won Down Beat awards for their respective instruments and recorded as "The Poll Winners." with Hampton Hawes, Barney Kessel, Leroy Vinnegar, Shelly Manne, Victor FeldmanSonny Morgan, and others. Tracks: I've Told Ev'ry Little Star, Rock-a-bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody, How High the Moon, You, I've Found a New Baby, Alone Together, in the Chapel in the Moonlight, the Song Is You.