Charlie Rouse
Tenor Sax Solo on
Rouse's Point

About

Charlie Rouse opens with seventeen choruses on tenor sax, the first of two solos, followed by Billy Gardner on piano. Taken at a breakneck swing tempo of 307 BPM over the 12-bar Blues in C, the improvisation demands exceptional technical command and quick melodic thinking. Billy Gardner follows with seven piano choruses that maintain the blistering energy, his playing rising to match the standard set by Rouse's explosive tenor work. Recorded for the album Yeah! in 1960, the performance captures Charlie Rouse at 35 to 36 years old. The minor-key blues framework gives the performance a darker, more urgent character than the album's major-key blues tracks, and Rouse exploits the modal possibilities with creative abandon.

Charlie Rouse was 35 to 36 years old at the time.