"St. Thomas" is the iconic calypso-flavored composition that opens Sonny Rollins's 1956 album Saxophone Colossus, one of the most celebrated recordings in jazz history. Based on a traditional Caribbean melody that Rollins's mother sang to him as a child, the tune's joyful 16-bar theme in C major has become one of the most recognizable melodies in all of jazz. Rollins's initial five-chorus tenor saxophone solo is a landmark of thematic improvisation, each phrase logically developing from the one before it in a display of motivic development that jazz scholars have studied extensively. Max Roach follows with five choruses of drum improvisation that are equally celebrated for their melodic clarity and structural coherence, demonstrating why Roach was considered the most musical of all jazz drummers. Rollins returns for four additional choruses that continue and extend his earlier ideas. Tommy Flanagan contributes four choruses of piano improvisation that provide an elegant counterpart to Rollins's more muscular approach. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, with Doug Watkins on bass, the session captures Rollins at the absolute peak of his creative powers. "St. Thomas" remains one of the most frequently performed pieces in jazz, its irresistible rhythmic vitality and melodic charm continuing to delight audiences decades after its creation.
