Saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ composition “Oleo” was introduced in a June 1954 recording session for the Prestige label by Miles Davis’ Modern Jazz Giants. Trumpeter Davis also opted to record two other Rollins compositions during the session: “Airegin” and “Doxy.” In Sonny Rollins: The Definitive Musical Guide, author Peter Niklas Wilson says, “This probably represents a singular achievement for a musician officially hired as a sideman: he [Rollins] brings three compositions to a colleague’s recording session, all three are recorded, and all three immediately become jazz standards.” Wilson quotes Davis saying that Rollins hadn’t even finished the tunes when he brought them in: “‘He...rewrote them right in the studio. He would be tearing off a piece of paper and writing down a bar or a note or a chord.... One tune he wrote was ‘Oleo.’ He got the title from oleomargarine, which was a big thing then, a cheap butter substitute.’”

The session featured Horace Silver on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums. (This June session is combined on CD with a December session entitled Bags Groove which featured composer of that title cut Milt Jackson on vibes and Thelonious Monk on piano.) In his book Enjoying Jazz, Alyn Shipton notes that on “Oleo” Davis played his first extended recorded solo with Harmon mute which became a major characteristic of his playing.

In his musical guide to Rollins, Wilson describes the nature of the Rollins composition: “‘Oleo’ is a rhythm-changes composition with theme tones that are placed sparingly but in cunning rhythmic manner. It is further refined in that the A sections of the theme are only played by the trumpet, saxophone, and bass. Then in the A sections of the solos, the drums are involved but not the piano--a foretaste of the pianoless ensembles Rollins would lead in the late ‘50s.”

Rollins’ own trio with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Pete LaRoca recorded “Oleo” in three separate concerts in 1959--in Stockholm, in Sweden, and in Zurich. Then in July 1962 Rollins recorded a live session at the Village Gate with bassist Bob Cranshaw, cornetist Don Cherry, and drummer Billy Higgins. (This session is available on CD as Our Man in Jazz.) In Visions of Jazz: The First Century author Gary Giddins describes their rendition of “Oleo.” “The long version of ‘Oleo’ consists chiefly of extended solos based on harmonic changes.... ‘Oleo,’ the best known of Rollins’s rhythmically wily originals, tends to incite his capricious nature (the 1954 Miles Davis debut is no exception.) In this version, the melody is never definingly stated--the musicians begin free, setting up a spectacular Rollins improvisation: fast, hard, exhilarating. Cranshaw provides a loping rhythmic gait in support, and Higgins alternates a loose four with a decisive backbeat. The melody is skirted, never confronted.”

“Oleo” continues to be one of Rollins’ most recorded compositions favored by both saxophonists such as Pepper Adams, Joe McPhee, and Eric Dolphy and pianists Bill Evans, Hampton Hawes, and Kenny Barron. It has also been performed by bassist Ron Carter, drummer Frank Capp, trumpeter Nat Adderley, guitarist Joe Pass (who recorded it more than once), and bassist Lynn Seaton. Since 2000 it has been recorded by Hammond B3 player Joey DeFrancesco, saxophonist Donald Harrison, and pianists Taylor Eigsti, Marian McPartland, and Keith Jarrett, who has also recorded it more than once, most recently in 2007.