ENDEIT

Tenor saxophone solo · 1956

Sonny Rollins: Tenor Madness

Key
B♭ major
Tempo
176 BPM MEDIUM UP
Rhythm feel
Swing
Style
Hardbop
Choruses
8
Form
A12

Sonny Rollins's solo on “Tenor Madness” has 507 notes in 131 seconds (3.9 notes per second), spanning 30 semitones from Ab2 to D5. The average tempo is 176 BPM with a swing feel. About 43% of the melodic motion is stepwise (one or two semitones).

Notes

507Notes
131sSolo length
3.9Notes per second
Ab2–D5Range (30 semitones)
43%Stepwise motion

Pitch-class distribution

Most frequent intervals

  • -2 ×71
  • -3 ×63
  • +1 ×52
  • -1 ×51
  • 0 ×45
  • +2 ×44

Changes played over

A1
B♭7
B♭7
B♭7
B♭7
E♭7
E♭7
B♭7
B♭7
Cm7
F7
B♭7
B♭7

Record

Record
1956 · CD Company Italy · 1990
Recorded
1956-06-22
Line-up
Sonny Rollins (ts); Tommy Flanagan (p); DougWatkins (b); Max Roach (dr); John Coltrane (ts)
Composer
Sonny Rollins
Solo length
02:11-04:26

Source: Weimar Jazz Database, Jazzomat Research Project (HfM Weimar), ODbL 1.0.