Dizzy Gillespie - Sonny Side Up (Verve Vault Series)

Sonny Side Up, released in 1959 on Verve Records, is the masterful studio collaboration between trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and tenor saxophonists Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt. Recorded in December 1957 with producer Norman Granz, the album brings together three of modern jazz’s most distinctive musicians in a rare frontline configuration. Gillespie, already a pivotal architect of bebop, trades choruses with two tenor titans of contrasting approach: Rollins, with his thematic development and rhythmic elasticity, and Stitt, with his rapid-fire bebop fluency. The frontline is anchored by a crisp and propulsive rhythm section featuring Ray Bryant on piano, Tommy Bryant on bass, and Charlie Persip on drums — capturing the fire and precision of late-1950s small-group jazz at its peak.