Valse Hot

Valse Hot is an original composition by Sonny Rollins, written in 1956 while he was a sideman in the Max Roach and Clifford Brown Quintet. It was first recorded on March 22, 1956, for the album Sonny Rollins Plus 4 on the Prestige label, with Clifford Brown on trumpet, Richie Powell on piano, George Morrow on bass, and Max Roach on drums. The piece is a jazz waltz in A-flat major, blending bop energy with the dance-like pulse of 3/4 meter. Rollins was among the earliest bop musicians to compose and perform in waltz time, a practice that would later become common in jazz. The melody supports thematic improvisation while maintaining a hot, playful character, and the original recording runs over eight minutes, allowing for extended solo exploration over the buoyant harmonic framework. Valse Hot remains one of Rollins's most well-known compositions alongside Pent-Up House, and it is widely performed as a standard waltz in jazz repertoire. On AllSolos, the tune appears on Stephen Riley's 2018 album Oleo, featuring solos by Joe Magnarelli on trumpet, Riley on tenor saxophone, and Jay Anderson on acoustic bass, as well as on the original 1956 Sonny Rollins Plus 4 session with solos by Rollins on tenor saxophone, Clifford Brown on trumpet, Richie Powell on piano, and Max Roach on drums.