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

Maybe James changed his tune a few years later, because on “Super Bad, part 2” JB exhorted saxophonist Robert McCollough to “Blow me some Trane!” which McCollough duly did, not exactly adhering to the chords.

At 4:00 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV9a3tUPqTo

i'm not reading that extract as being particularly anti-rollins -- JB says he doesn't play melodies, which, well, definitions, and he says others can't follow him all the way bcz he's weird, and he says he JB dug that other stuff but beethoven couldn't have figured out the changes (which tbf is probably true!)

if it was middle-aged beethoven you'd have to notate it for him and he probably would be confused!

And Sonny Rollins could never have the harmonic & rhythmic focus and minimalism necessary to sustain the funk. Good thing we can enjoy them both!

whoa whoa, I'm not so sure about that. Sonny was capable of anything!

I thought things could get pretty funky (in a *Rolling* way),along with R&B & Caribbean, on some of his 70s-80s albums, esp. Nucleus (incl. Darryl Blackbird McKnight and Chuck Rainey), also Sunny Days, Starry Nights.

*Rollins*, I meant, but Rolling too, always.

He had the calypso thing, but they had very different visions of infinity. Or perhaps...not so different after all?

THE NOTEBOOKS OF SONNY ROLLINS came out today from NY Review Books

at a glance, there's nothing to dispel the idea that he is a mad genius

Phew, thought we'd lost him there.

every time this thread is revived

#musingsofmiles #bouncingofbach

Just finished Saxophone Colossus and listening to his entire discography.

It’s now a challops but the Milestone run is better than its reputation and I quite enjoyed The Solo Album even if that one has not been rehabilitated.

Saxophone Colossus the book, that is

had to look up which albums are milestone

I think nucleus and global warming are pretty great but I haven't heard most of the others. I heard bad things from jazz nerds which I took too seriously when I was young and insecure about being into jazz so I'm sure there's lots to uncover

I heard the solo album maybe once as a teen and found it boring because it wasn't accessible hard bop or extreme free jazz so I didn't understand the point of it

I'll link to the three long things I wrote about Sonny in the '70s, which I'm sure are upthread somewhere:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

More on the Notebooks of Sonny Rollins

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/books/review/notebooks-of-sonny-rollins.html

I'm not a huge fan tbh, but I'm listening to the 40 minute version of 'Four' and it certainly is something (mostly a monument to the rhythm section, sustaining that level of swing and energy and attention at the same tempo for that long).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KCDJtiY8sg

Also kind of amazing that it just keeps speeding up, lol

I'm not a huge fan tbh