If there ain't a Sonny Rollins thread yet, this could be one

My only times seeing him live was in the 80's; I ended up disappointed because I was hoping for something more like the Village Vanguard trio recordings from '57. The 80's quintet I saw had electric piano and electric bass and was too laid back compared to the Vanguard stuff. One good thing about the Wyntonization of jazz was that it made it OK (nay, even mandatory) to ditch the electric instruments.

I've now seen about five or six of the videos so far. You get to see all the faces of Sonny; all that's missing is a video with his late-50's be-mohawked visage.

My least favorite video so far: "52nd Street Theme", with the Our Man in Jazz quartet, featuring two Ornette alumni plus Henry Grimes, a bassist at home in any context (to this day). I wonder if he regards that quartet as a failed experiment, because I don't think he's tried anything as conceptually adventurous since then. Which is fine, since he seems free-er when he's firmly planted in the sound-world of the 18-year-old bebopper that he was when he first recorded "52nd Street Theme" with Bud Powell; an example here is the cadenza in the "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" video, but his mastery is just one continuous example.

I'm going to try to catch him live one more time at least. And now I'm off to youtube...

I don't have any problem with electric instruments per se, it's how they're used. I like lots of jazz with electric bass and electric piano. Easy Living has electric instruments on some tracks and acoustic instruments on other, and it seems like the instruments chosen are well-suited to each track.

He's got a new (self-released I think) album out, and I read somewhere that he met up with a tape trader who has been collecting and trading (but not selling) live concerts of his for years, so he may decide to release some of those shows himself.

he actually told K. Leander Williams in Time Out New York that release of those tapes "isn't a possibility. It's a probability."

Recently got this thing on Bluebird called Sonny Rollins & Co. 1964, which seems to feature various combinations of herbie hanccock, ron carter, bob cranshaw, mickey roker, jim hall and roy mccurdy. I have a feeling it's material that was originally issued under other release names - anyone know?

bumping this for ilxor to read (he's at work)

grrrrr (bookmarked!)

The Cutting Edge from '75 with Rufus Harley and a savage swinging version of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is not to be passed on.

I was in Paris a couple of weeks ago and there were up and coming concert posters everywhere with this awesome photo.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qoqrkp25A60/TJq801jX_zI/AAAAAAAACZE/uuR7uAdbz9w/s1600/sonny_rollins.jpg

Just saw him at Kennedy Center in Washington DC last night. Now, 81-year old Rollins has a huge gray-white haired 'fro and beard. He walked out there all hunched over and moving slowly, but when he was playing he suddenly straightened up his back at times. Longtime bassist Cranshaw, plus guitar, drums and a percussionist(I left the playbill somewhere that had their names). The set was only an hour and 10 to 15 minutes long but plenty enjoyable.

i'd love to see him sometime! some of the more recent live recordings i've heard make it clear he's still got some things to say.

Just been listening to a '74 set from Dime that I grabbed after watching the stuff on BBC4 last night. This was a bio doc including footage from his 80th birthday concert where he was joined onstage by Jim Hall and later Ornette Coleman. Also included footage of him revisiting the bridge of the lp title, not sure when that was shot, much earlier since his hair was still black not the fluffy white blob it is in the more current footage.

That was followed by a set from Ronnie Scott's that was filmed for the BBC in '74 with his electric band and Rufus Harley on horns and bagpipes. That'll presumably be doing the rounds before long. There's a version up on youtube already
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8SCquHKhzs
it's called rescued cos only part of the footage from the gig was used by the BBC at the time and one of the engineers reintegrated the edited bits to a reel which he kept in his attic since then.

I also found this from Copenhagen in '74
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMKuaYDOkdQ

and this from Holland in '73
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPRik08kQFI
think there's more from that gig up there too

wife/daughter got me the live in europe 1959 3-disc set for father's day. so great! not sure of its import-y/bootleg origins, but it deserves a little more attention! all trio stuff of rollins at one of his peaks as a player.

I got a couple Sonny Rollins CDs, but he is definitely one of the titans of post bop jazz I really need to take a year or two and just listen to pretty much it all like I have with other jazz artists of his ilk.

yeah his career is a little bit hard to follow (at least for me) because he doesn't have one era where he had, you know, the classic band, the classic label, etc. he was always kinda bouncing around.

I dunno, I think a case could be made for The Freelance Years box (if there's one single classic Rollins era).

http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/print-view/sony-rollins-the-colossus-20130819

Nice interview/feature. Despite some lung issues he's still working hard at 82.

Spoiler alert, this is a sad part from near the end of this fascinating to me article:

"I mostly stay in," Sonny said, sitting in his leather chair with his now familiar blood-orange skullcap on his head. He had a bunch of tests scheduled to check on his lungs, which he said had gotten "a little worse." He believed that the problem had been building for some time, perhaps back to 9/11. "I was living so close to the Towers, and when they fell down, we had to stay there," he said. "It was such an upsetting time, I really felt like playing. I took out my horn and took this deep breath, something I've done a million times. But I immediately felt sick, like I'd gulped down something bad. Some poison. It was just in the air."

Sonny looked wistfully at his sainted ax sitting on a brick shelf beside the fireplace. He hadn't played for months, the longest period since he returned from India in 1971.

But he wasn't feeling sorry for himself. Indeed, he appeared in good spirits, even jolly. It was difficult in the beginning, he said, not being able to practice. It was something he feared. "I really felt that would be the end of me, not being able to play. But I'm coming to terms with it. We're here for such a short time, you have to make the most of it. I've been lucky, getting to spend my life playing this horn. So how can I complain?"

Besides, Sonny said, it wasn't like the verdict was in for sure. There was every chance he'd play again. This was a good thing, Sonny said, because "I haven't really met my goals. I haven't made my full statement yet."

I hope he can play again. While he walked hunched over the last time I saw him, when he blew his horn he stood tall. Amazing

bump.

he's cancelled his show at the London jazz festival in November, which doesn't sound good.

Letter from Sonny Rollins to Coleman Hawkins.

ha that is great. was just listening to the sonny meets hawk album a little while ago -- lots of weird/wonderful stuff going on there. always find the end of "lover man" kind of terrifying, some kind of staring-into-the-abyss playing happening. obvious that rollins loved hawkins enough that he did not want to just let him coast through that session.

1962...Wow

I had never had a proper listen to The Bridge till recently, the middle 2 (John S + title track) are incredible. He sounds like a bit of a judgemental shit in that letter to Hawkins but he was deffo on a hell of a creative high when he wrote it.

http://wnpr.org/post/sonny-rollins-reflects-his-life-career-and-goals-both-musical-and-spiritual#stream/0

He got an honary degree from the University of hartford and in the interview says he's not done yet. Much of the post is an overview of his career highlights

I have been hammering The Bridge recently, about 60% of what I love about it is Jim Hall's guitar playing. Some of the standards on it are a bit workaday, but still lovely rainy Sunday music.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/jazz-great-sonny-rollins-still-not-finished-at-85/

He's hoping new medication will help him with his (post-9/11)respiratory issues, and allow him to play and record again

I was afraid this thread had been bumped because he'd died.

Last month I set up a phone interview between Rollins and up-and-coming tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana; here's a link for anyone who wants to read it.

happy 88th birthday, big sax colossus!

I've been listening to a lot of 70s Sonny and find it quite interesting. Horn Culture is good start to finish, but all of them have their merits. Not quite fusion, not quite crossover jazz-funk, but interesting on their own terms.

i like the way i feel which has lee ritenour, billy cobham, bill summers AND patrice rushen. doesn't quite live up to the lineup but fun anyway

I had been considering doing a string of blog posts about his 70s albums for a while. I was intrigued when he tossed a version of "Disco Monk" onto one of his Road Shows live compilations.

do it. the mccoy tyner series was awesome

Listening to the 2CD expanded version of 1973's In Japan now. The original album was 46 minutes long; the second disc (bonus material) is 58 minutes, including a 29-minute piece. The band is Rollins, Bob Cranshaw on bass, David Lee on drums, Mtume on congas, and Yoshiaki Masuo on guitar.

a string of blog posts about his 70s albums

would read

Masuo is great on Horn Culture- I didn't know him at all. I'll have to check out In Japan.

70s-wise, Nucleus (title thought to be a play on his nickname, which came from his looking like baseball's Don Newcombe, and he always has seemed like an athlete) was my gateway Rollins LP (dunno how the CD sound etc compares), and sounded like exemplary jazz with crossover and gateway appeal: accessibly melodic and robust and even-especially lyrical, but disciplined, and trusting the listener to have an open mind and a brain.
Wiki sez:
Track listing
All compositions by Sonny Rollins except as indicated.

"Lucille" - 6:08
"Gwaligo" - 5:58
"Are You Ready?" - 4:08
"Azalea" - 4:46
"Newkleus" (James Mtume) - 5:17
"Cosmet" - 7:20
"My Reverie" (Larry Clinton, based on Claude Debussy's "Reverie") - 7:39
Personnel
Sonny Rollins: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
George Duke: piano, electric piano & synthesizer (track 1,3,5-7)
Raul de Souza: trombone (tracks 1-4,6,7)
Bennie Maupin: tenor saxophone (all), tenor saxophone soloist on 4, bass clarinet (track 7), saxello (track 6), lyricon (track 5)
Black Bird McNight: guitar (tracks: 1-3,5,6); soloist on 2,3
David Amaro: guitar; soloist on 1
Chuck Rainey: electric bass (tracks 1-3,6)
Bob Cranshaw: electric bass (tracks 4,5,7)
Eddie Moore: drums (tracks 1-3,6)
Roy McCurdy: drums (tracks 4,5,7)
Mtume: congas & percussion (1-4,6), lead guitar (track 5)

Also enjoyed the live, Caribbean-tending Don't Stop The Carnival, with Tony Williams---and There Will Be Another You, an electrifying, immersive concert from the mid-60s, with Billy Higgins, unreleased 'til the late-ish 70s, and totally relevant to the latter era's still-ongoing evolution of progressive and free jazz---also relevant to, for instance, this year's belated releases of Coltrane's Blue World, Art Pepper's Promise Kept: The Complete Artist House Masters, and fuckin' finally Getz at the Gate. Rollins sued or pressured ABC about releasing this show, and the LP disappeared pretty quickly, though may have eventually come out on CD.

As posted by Matt Weston on Bluesky, originally in The Book of Rock Lists from 1981:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6j6sjnlz6y7zhanryp7yshy3/bafkreicnlxof45jijsxsl74vtkxjmzi2yidwqgnkdojpvqwjh35eq4g3iu

Some of the very first jazz records (like they literally might have been the second & third) I ever owned when I was 16 were Saxophone Colossus and Way Out West, RIP!

I'll admit that SR isn't one of my very favorites, but I've certainly loved some of his records (Plus Four, A Night at the Village Vanguard, Way Out West). RIP.

But I'm extremely glad that I got the chance to see him once at Ravinia. Can't remember everyone who was in the band, but it was Bob Cranshaw on electric bass and Steve Jordan on drums, and it was pretty amazing to hear Steve Jordan in that totally straight-ahead context. It was loose but in a fun way, everyone totally tuned in to him and following him for as long as he wanted to go (I think they played a very small number of very long tunes).

RIP Sonny. He's moved up my ranks slowly but steadily over the years. Now Playing: "East Broadway Run Down"

The world feels suckier without him in it.

was listening to some of the later 70s sonny stuff — it certainly bears the signatures of that time period, but damn if songs like this aren't just a total pleasure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqEvfqCkVQ4

But I'm extremely glad that I got the chance to see him once at Ravinia. Can't remember everyone who was in the band, but it was Bob Cranshaw on electric bass and Steve Jordan on drums, and it was pretty amazing to hear Steve Jordan in that totally straight-ahead context. It was loose but in a fun way, everyone totally tuned in to him and following him for as long as he wanted to go (I think they played a very small number of very long tunes).

― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Tuesday, May 26, 2026 11:52 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

was this the 2002 concert I was talking about upthread?

http://www.concertlivewire.com/rollins.htm

I love that this concert was seemingly very divisive lol

https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/sonny-rollins/

as well as one of the most disappointing, a night at Ravinia in 2002 when he had nothing much to say but kept hunting for a statement anyway.

Haha, yes! The second review was definitely that show.

It did feel ramshackle, but not in a bad way. My impression is that he doesn't care much about things like tight arrangements, rehearsing, or composing. From everything I've heard he's about blowing, true improvising, playing long, the endless search (for something new, for expression, for a sense of truth). Everyone else is along for the ride.

I loved the 20 min solo he did at the end. everything he did was a new idea, I remember realizing that distinctly

Sonny is prob my favorite jazz saxophonist. No one is as lyrical and melodically inventive every time they perform...Village Vanguard live CDs are must own. I saw him live myself about 4 years ago and it was easily one of the best concerts I've ever seen in my life - at the end he did this endless solo and never repeated himself once. My friend and I had a blast, listening and reacting ("OHSHIT!") every time he would tweak the melodic line in an unexpected way, twisting yr expectations, front like he was going to go one way and break in the other direction. It must have gone on for a half an hour; i was rapt, and when i talked to another friend who was there, and she said "God that last song was so boring," and even though it seems obvious that not everyone is going to get as much out of a Rollins solo as I do it sort of stopped me in my tracks, like a totally unexpected slap in the face! I just said, 'hah, yeah that was a long one....' Anyway, Early on in his career he must have tapped into some hidden well of inspiration and its just flowed from him since. Not that he hasn't had some ehhh recordings, but solo for solo when he is on he is ON.
― deej.. (deej..), Saturday, September 9, 2006 2:15 PM (nineteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

usually I hate that ilx archives our history forever but 20 years ago I posted about a concert from four years ago and I still remember everything about this

before I knew he had passed I was sat in my garden listening to a Sonny version of On Green Dolphin St off some Impulse album this week and literally thinking this great musician is still alive, that's some good going pal :(

Pulled six live sets off the shelf covering about a 20-year span:

Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings (a 3CD set)
Complete Live At The Village Gate 1962 (this is the band with Don Cherry, and this is a 6CD box with the full recordings that became Our Man In Jazz)
Rollins In Holland (a 2CD set of studio & live recordings from 1967, with Han Bennink on drums)
Live In Helsinki 1972 (the only recording of Rollins with a Fender Rhodes backing him)
Complete Sonny Rollins In Japan (a double LP, but the Japanese 2CD version has several extra tracks)
Milestone Jazzstars In Concert (Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Ron Carter, & Al Foster - again, the Japanese 2CD has bonus tracks)

I'm assuming Rollins in Holland is good? I remember being excited about it when it was announced and then I kind of forgot to get it.

Spent the day listening to the Contemporary & Riverside & Blue Note records 57-58 run and goddamn I haven't listened to Freedom Suite in forever, it still sounds incredible

https://www.instagram.com/p/DYzxgeIuNRF/

Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings
Complete Live At The Village Gate 1962

Haven't heard the others on this list but can verify that these two are terrific. Village Vanguard remains my go-to Sonny, though. Everything I like about him is on those tapes

unperson saw this live: Sonny and Ornette, "Sonnymoon For Two," which made my Pazz & Jop Top Ten Singles, when it was released on The Road Shows Vol.2---
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhXlwdkcLc4

I’ve been crushing live Sonny on YT, including this odd one with McCoy Tyner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjIBk88XeXE

There's a v good BBC doc of Sonny at Ronnie Scott's, here's an excerpt with Rufus Harley on bagpipes!

On BBC4 tonight @ 11.00.

there's a 48 hr memorial broadcast on WKCR.
https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/sonny-rollins-memorial-broadcast

there's a 48 hr memorial broadcast on WKCR.
https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/sonny-rollins-memorial-broadcast

oops

(xps) For some bizarre reason the BBC continuity announcer is insisting on pronouncing "Sonny" as "Sawney".

Good post, I'm going to do some listening:

https://substack.com/@iverson/p-199547083

List looks good, thanks

Forgot he played on Brilliant Corners

Some nice mentions of his work with Max Roach (among others) in the "You'll Hear It"podcast.

Thanks for that. I love those guys but had completely forgotten about them

Full-album-wise, this was my gateway, gotta admit xgau got it right:

]Nucleus [Milestone, 1975]
Eat your heart out, Grover Washington (Archie Shepp) (yeah, King Curtis too). This is as rich an r&b saxophone record as I know, combining repetition and invention, melodies recalled and melodies unimaginable, in proportions that define the difference between selling out and reaching out. This man says more with his tone than most musicians do with a full set of chops (which he also has, of course). If you really believe you don't like "jazz," this is as good a place to start as any. A-

And Hal Willner said that this was his gateway to credibility on Night Music--after this, he was trusted to team Al Green with Sun Ra and the Arkestra, Conway Twitty and the Residents, whatever---
Leonard Cohen with Sonny Rollins, "Who By Fire":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piqKsizxTxs

That might be the first Christgau review I agree with. Nucleus really is a good record.

He reviewed a bunch, gave some A+'s, only one he was meh on was the first, The Cutting Edge, which I haven't heard---here they all are:
https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Sonny+Rollins