"Rollins Plays for Bird,"

At JazzWax today, my "Perfect Album" series continues with Sonny Rollins's "Rollins Plays for Bird," the first Charlie Parker tribute album and a musical memorial of sorts by those who knew him best... https://t.co/Cx02m6IuY8 pic.twitter.com/UkB9qPLqyI

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) March 27, 2019

Sonny Rollins (w/ Shelly Manne & Ray Brown)

On this day in 1957 (at 3am!) Sonny Rollins (w/ Shelly Manne & Ray Brown) recorded his album Way Out West. "It was maybe the first time I went out to the West Coast–I’m a New York guy," he told People in 2018. "I had great musicians, it was a joy for me." https://t.co/vcs0v0oZWD

— Sonny Rollins (@sonnyrollins) March 7, 2019

Sonny Rollins ...

Sonny Rollins – First Moves (Full Album)https://t.co/Et0bCzpuRc#jazz #jazzmusic #saxophone #SonnyRollins pic.twitter.com/YEh0JcZMxe

— ProJazz (@ProJazzNet) March 3, 2019

Sonny Rollins

"In 1986, I was a G-man. Dedicated to Fernie King." --S.R. https://t.co/FfnWFhF1Cw

— Sonny Rollins (@sonnyrollins) February 25, 2019

Sonny Rollins - Way Out West (Deluxe)

Sonny Rollins - Way Out West

CRAFT • 1957

Recorded in Los Angeles in 1957, the jazz legend’s classic album—the first to use the now-standard saxophone-bass-drums trio—looks like a novelty and sounds like transcendence.

by Natalie Weiner


Sonny Rollins doesn’t fear the familiar. He’s persistently original, yes—those lucky enough to see him live before his deteriorating health prevented him from playing remember a “limitless” improvisor, one of jazz’s best. It only takes a cursory listen to what we now know were his final albums, the live Road Shows series, to hear how inventive the now 87-year-old jazz legend could be. Even now, unable to blow the horn that made him a colossus, he told Vulture last year, “I can’t get rid of [musical ideas]. It’s just a little trial that I have to endure.”

But even in his last concerts, he was still performing some of the same standards he injected so much life into throughout his seven-decade career—including those that appear on 1957’s Way Out West, an album that looks like a novelty and sounds like transcendence. The project, one of Rollins’ canonical recordings, has gotten a 60th-anniversary reissue in the form of a two-LP box set which includes previously unreleased outtakes and some in-studio dialogue. (A digital version is also available.) All these years after its release, Way Out West still shows Rollins’ unique ability to revere his musical heritage without losing his edge. Old songs, new sound.

read more at: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sonny-rollins-way-out-west/

Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk ....

At JazzWax, Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk's 12 studio tracks, together, with two standing out... https://t.co/RzidqYMmHj pic.twitter.com/bmC2F4ea80

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) 19 de junho de 2017

Sonny Rollins - New Mexico Jazz Festival

Sonny Rollins - New Mexico Jazz Festival: https://t.co/y00yYX4SWj via @YouTube

— jazzvideoguy (@jazzvideoguy) 13 de junho de 2017

#SonnyRollins - Don't Worry, Be Happy

Dizzy Gillespie / Sonny Rollins / Sonny Stitt -"The Eternal Triangle"

Published on Mar 8, 2013
Sonny Side Up is an album by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and the tenor saxophonists Sonny Stitt and Sonny Rollins, recorded in December 1957 in New York City. It was released the following year on producer Norman Granz' just launched Verve label.

Pianist Ray Bryant, bassist Tommy Bryant, and drummer Charlie Persip provide the rhythm section.

#SonnyRollins on the Zurich

At JazzWax, Sonny Rollins on the Zurich recording of him in 1959 that he says is a bootleg. https://t.co/FrBNGVPcGV pic.twitter.com/nlOvHzfJpI

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) 10 de dezembro de 2016

#SonnyRollins and #HoraceSilver in Zurich in '59

At JazzWax, Sonny Rollins and Horace Silver in Zurich in '59—months before Sonny headed to the Williamsburg Bridge https://t.co/dxgLPwZMpz pic.twitter.com/bNAfP2kIdd

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) 6 de dezembro de 2016

Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach Quintet

Sonny Rollins + The New Yorker

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

When executives at chemical plants fail to inspect their facilities, standards grow lax, things crack and toxic substances wind up leaking into rivers and polluting the water supply. Established publications face similar custodial issues relating to their editorial content and the public trust. After all, most of us buy established publications and visit their sites under the assumption that what we consume is true, accurate and protected against trickery and hidden influence. It's the unspoken pact we enter into with a respected publications and a matter of trust.

Last week, the public was unknowingly duped by The New Yorker. The magazine's online edition posted a "Daily Shouts" column by Django Gold, a senior writer for The Onion, a satirical site that specializes in japes. The New Yorker column was entitled "Sonny Rollins: In His Own Words" and featured a series of 11 quotes attributed to Sonny, including this one: "I really don’t know why I keep doing this. Inertia, I guess. Once you get stuck in a rut, it’s difficult to pull yourself out, even if you hate every minute of it. Maybe I’m just a coward."

The problem is none of the quotes in the column came from Sonny. Even worse, The New Yorker never bothered to warn readers that the column was satire. Apparently, the magazine thinks we all should know what's a joke and what's not. A one-line disclaimer went up only this morning at the bottom of the spoof, only after today's uproar and outrage, and days after the initial post.

By now, it's clear to most thinking people that we are living in a jackass culture, where the people who do inappropriate, outrageous things in public get the most laughs. This new twisted sense of humor ranges from calling in phony threats to institutions to YouTube videos of people being spoofed in fake interviews. Humor today is increasingly about shock and gotcha, while subtlety and art take a back seat to the clever shenanigans of gagsters and guerrilla towel snappers. I suppose the jackass culture's rise has something to do with the high percentage of terrifying news stories today, which has created an appetite for humor that is increasingly surreal and disturbing. Think Mondo Cane meets Candid Camera.

Why would The New Yorker, one of the country's finest and most esteemed print magazines, wade into the jackass morass? The only reasonable answer is ivory-tower insensitivity or ignorance. In the case of the Sonny Rollins spoof, there's a disturbing subtext. Boiled down, the fun at Sonny's expense seems to be saying something more—that jazz is a joke and a futile endeavor, that Sonny is a fool and a laughing stock who has been wasting his time with that saxophone of his, that jazz's struggle to remain relevant in an age of nihilistic pop is side-splitting funny—like videos of an injured giraffe repeatedly struggling to get to its feet. This message alone is below a magazine that prides itself on its arts coverage.

At one point in the New Yorker column, Gold writes in Sonny's name: "I released fifty-odd albums, wrote hundreds of songs, and played on God knows how many session dates. Some of my recordings are in the Library of Congress. That’s idiotic. They ought to burn that building to the ground. I hate music. I wasted my life." This "quote" is an overreach, even for Gold, and casts Sonny as a muddled arsonist. [Pictured above, the Library of Congress]

Assuming the New Yorker's column of invented quotes is clever (beats actually interviewing him), one finds it hard to imagine the magazine's editors or a guest columnist playing the same cruel word game with Jay-Z [above], Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift or any superstar with a powerful legal team. Instead, it chose to have fun at the expense of a defenseless jazz legend whose gifts to this country's culture will likely last far longer than virtually anyone else on stage today.

But there's an even bigger problem here. Like that lax chemical plant, the New Yorker column of fake quotes is now in the Internet's blood stream, which means that somewhere down the line someone is going to assume that Sonny actually said one or more of them. And this is where the New Yorker's lame attempt at humor becomes as puzzling as it is frightening. Either the esteemed print side had no idea what its electronic crew was up to, or the print editors have thrown in their lot with the jackass culture, an unfortunate misstep for the magazine's brand and reputation. Jackasses don't pay their subscription bills.

Or (and this is even worse), the New Yorker's editor also was scammed into thinking that Sonny said all of these things in his own words and allowed it to be posted as fact. Doesn't say much for the publication's editorial gut or its jazz smarts. Case in point—the New Yorker's own Twitter feed on August 1 promoted the article, quoting and plugging its own fake column as if Sonny's remarks were news and bona fide. The fact that the Tweet has continued to remain up this long speaks to the magazine's slovenly online standards.

The irony in all of this is that the column, though fiction, might have been funny if we knew what was going on. The gross error here isn't what was written but that the magazine's online crew never told readers that this was all made up (until today, in haste). "Shouldn't we at least tell the reader this is a goof?" someone smart must have asked at the online editorial meeting prior to posting. At which point, the online editor must have insisted, "No, no we can't—that would spoil the fun."

Simply put, passing information along as fact under the assumption that everyone will know it's a joke is poor editorial judgment. But in the new jackass culture, anything goes, and if you feel offended, well, you clearly can't take a joke (I was on the receiving end of a few of these today). All of this makes me wonder how far off we are from adopting the new European law that forces Google to delete links to personal information that are irrelevant or not in the public’s interest.

Read more: http://www.jazzwax.com/2014/08/sonny-rollins-and-the-new-yorker.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29

Used with permission by Marc Myers

SONNY ROLLINS Book Event: Saxophone COLOSSUS....

SONNY ROLLINS BOOK EVENT: SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS Tuesday September 14, 2010 7:00 PM Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Tribeca, 97 Warren Street, New York, NY 10007, 212-587-5389

Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins Photography by John Abbott Text by Bob Blumenthal, Published by Abrams.

Book Signing/Author Event

John Abbott, Bob Blumenthal and Sonny Rollins HIMSELF will be at Barnes & Noble in Tribeca/NYC to sign books and give a talk and slide show about the new book Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins.

About the Book:
Jazz legend Sonny Rollins celebrates his 80th birthday this fall, and Saxophone Colossus has been published to mark this occasion and honor his incredibly prolific career. This intimate appreciation combines the images of John Abbott, who as Rollins’s photographer of choice for the past 20 years has captured the saxophonist at home and at work, and the essays of Bob Blumenthal, a jazz critic who has chronicled Rollins and his art for nearly four decades.

Sonny Rollins has been at the center of jazz and its evolution virtually from his birth. Growing up in Harlem in the heyday of swing and coming of age as the first wave of modernists announced their discoveries, he quickly found himself sharing bandstands with his idols and making music of his own that continues to influence and inspire. Saxophone Colossus, named for the 1956 masterpiece of the same title, is Abbott and Blumenthal’s tribute to Rollins’s music and spirit.

John Abbott’s award-winning jazz photography has been featured on more than 250 album and magazine covers. He has been the primary cover photographer for JazzTimes magazine since 2003. Bob Blumenthal is the winner of two Grammy awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jazz Journalists Association.
More About John Abbott: http://johnabbottphoto.com/

From: Jazz Promo Services

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/

Sonny Rollins Elected Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences

By Aubrey Everett
Saxophonist Sonny Rollins has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The prestigious society, now in its 230th year, is inducting 229 leaders in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts, business and public affairs fields. Rollins and the others will be recognized at a ceremony on Oct. 9 at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Photp: John Abbott
Rollins was nominated by Academy member Dr. Apostolos P. Georgopoulos, a neuroscientist and amateur saxophonist based in Minneapolis, Minn. Fellow 2010 inductees include Francis Ford Coppola, Denzel Washington and Metropolitan Opera founder and artistic director Thomas Hampson. Other inductees include various Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellows and Grammy, Tony and Oscar Award winners.

Members of the Academy, which conducts independent policy research, are “thinkers and doers” who are selected for their contributions to society at large.
http://jazztimes.com/sections/news/articles/25998-sonny-rollins-elected-member-of-american-academy-of-arts-and-sciences

Sonny Rollins - The Future of Jazz

At Jazz Forum Arts....

Eight Million YouTube Views and a Sonny Rollins iPhone App

Bret Primack is pleased to report that his YouTube Jazz Video Guy channel has passed eight million views and that he’s just released a Sonny Rollins iPhone App. On the cutting edge of technology and music since he co-founded Jazz Central Station the first major Jazz website in 1994, Bret is an advocate for utilizing new media as marketing and distribution tool for Jazz. “To reach new listeners," Bret believes, "and consolidate the existing global Jazz audience, it’s important to provide access to Jazz on all new media platforms like YouTube and the iPhone, as well as social media networks Facebook and Twitter.”


The Jazz Video Guy
Bret has produced and posted over four hundred videos YouTube and websites for artists and labels. Working closely with Sonny Rollins, Joe Lovano, Billy Taylor, the Concord Music Group and Mosaic Records, Bret has developed a reservoir of content and a loyal, enthusiastic worldwide following. “What’s different now," Bret explains, is that my audience communicates directly with me through email, Facebook and YouTube comments. Jazz is truly a global medium and the internet empowers musicians and record labels to facilitate the creation and distribution of content with a direct connection to the listener."

The Sonny Rollins iPhone App
The Sonny Rollins iPhone App, Bret’s latest creation, is a mini-website where users can listen to Sonny’s music, watch videos, and purchase concert tickets. “Once the free App is downloaded from iTunes, it’s very easy to sample and purchase the music, from any location. One click the music is automatically downloaded to the iPhone. Thirty five million iPhone users is a considerable potential audience for Jazz Apps worldwide."

Sonny Rollins....

Born in Harlem on September 9, 1930 Sonny Rollins began his career in music at an early age, studying piano and alto saxophone from age 11 and eventually taking up the tenor saxophone in 1946. Growing up in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem Rollins' teenage running mates included future jazz masters Jackie McLean, Arthur Taylor, and Kenny Drew with whom he had a band in high school. Situated in both the time and place where be-bop was being formulated, Rollins and his teenage cohorts were greatly intrigued and inspired by the innovations being made in the new jazz idiom. They grew up idolizing those musicians, only slightly older than themselves, at the helm of the new music like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell. Rollins was the first of his peers to reach a level where he could join some the older bop players and beginning in the late 1940s Rollins recorded and performed with Parker, Powell, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis among others. In fact, Rollins first appearance on Blue Note was on a Bud Powell date recorded on August 9, 1949 which also featured be-bop stalwarts Fats Navarro on trumpet, Tommy Potter on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. Shortly thereafter, throughout the early 1950s, a frequent associate with whom Rollins worked as a sideman was Miles Davis and in 1955 he replaced Harold Land in the tenor chair of the Clifford Brown-Max Roach quintet. Rollins remained with the pioneering bop drummer after Brown's untimely death, playing in his group throughout 1957.


It was during his tenure with Max Roach that Rollins began to record as a leader, making albums for both Prestige and Blue Note. Thus, it is only fitting that Roach be behind the drum set on Rollins first album recorded for Blue Note. The December 16, 1956 date which eventually came to be title simply Sonny Rollins, Volume One also featured trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Wynton Kelly, and bassist Gene Ramey. While this is certainly a memorable date with Rollins' rich, husky timbre in good form, more notable is the session done a few months later. Recorded on April 14, 1957, Sonny Rollins, Volume Two is of special interest because of the presence of two of the most important- but drastically different stylistically - pianists in the history of modern jazz. While hard bop progenitor Horace Silver is at the piano chair for three of the selections, the very unique Thelonious Monk accompanies Rollins on a beautiful rendition of his ballad "Reflections". Moreover, on what could be considered Monk's most famous and important composition, the haunting blues line "Misterioso", Thelonious and Horace share the piano chair with Monk accompanying Sonny at the beginning and end of the song and Silver taking over in the middle. Here, in one song an intriguing contrast between two bebop innovators is witnessed. On the one hand there is Monk's jutting, discordant style in contrast with the bluesy, soulful stylings of Silver. The piano presence notwithstanding let us not forget the performance of the session's leader as Rollins playing throughout is superb. One example is his extraordinary solo on "Misterioso" where his improvisatory ideas appear to be limitless.
Rollins final two sessions for Blue Note were recorded in close proximity to one another roughly five months later. The first was a studio date entitled Newk's Time recorded on September 22, 1957. This quartet date featured Wynton Kelly on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. A loosely constructed blowing session by nature, Newk's Time is notable for the strong performance by Rollins as well as the solidity of this rhythm section. Miles Davis' "Tune Up" for instance is given a whirlwind treatment with Rollins displaying in his ingenious solo what was dubbed by music historian Gunther Shuller as "thematic improvisation", a improvisatory style invented by Rollins which consists of the spontaneous reworking of an initially stated theme or motif. Newk's Time is also representative of Rollins aesthetic code in that it exemplifies his penchant for giving jazz treatment to hackneyed popular material. On this record Rollins turns to the popular show tunes "Wonderful!Wonderful!" and "The Surrey With The Fringe On Top".
While Newk's Time is an important record on these counts, Rollins next and final recording for Blue Note proved to be his most significant output for the label. Moreover, this recording is considered by many one of Rollins finest recordings of his career. A Night At The Village Vanguard (Volumes 1 and 2) is significant first because it was Rollins only live record done for Blue Note and; furthermore, because it has come to epitomize and define live jazz recordings at their very finest. Recorded during the afternoon and evening sets on November 3, 1957 at New York's famed Village Vanguard, this record captures the essence of jazz conveyed upon hearing the music live in its spontaneity, intellect, energy and feeling. The live session is also notable because Rollins mastery of improvisation is at its highest level given the extended format of the club date. Here Rollins is not confined to the time restrictions of the studio and; thus, truly stretches out producing lengthy and brilliantly constructed improvisations. Lastly, A Night At The Village Vanguard is a landmark record because it captured Rollins' pioneering idea of the jazz unit in the pianoless tenor saxophone trio. This minimalist approach gave the rhythm section a emptier, freer feel as accompaniment for Sonny's blazing tenor. Lastly, the date is interesting because it includes Rollins with two different trios. The afternoon session featured bassist and Donald Bailey and drummer Pete La Roca while in the evening Sonny was accompanied by Wilbur Ware on bass and Elvin Jones on drums.
Rollins output for Blue Note is notable because it was during this period that he became widely regarded as the most talented and innovative tenor saxophonist in jazz. At this time Sonny became the most influential and widely-imitated jazz saxophonist, establishing himself as the most outstanding saxophonist since Charlie Parker (and later superseded by John Coltrane). However, a year and a half after the Village Vanguard session he withdrew from public life as a result of personal and musical frustrations. A little over two years later, however, Rollins re-emerged out of seclusion with an expansion of his already fortuitous technique. Throughout the 1960s, Rollins also began to experiment with avant-garde jazz movement of the period, free jazz. From 1969 to 1971 Rollins took another public hiatus, but in 1972 he resumed playing once more, leading groups of various young musicians but this time performing in a more commercial vein. Nonetheless, Rollins allegiance to the hard bop tradition has endured throughout the 1980s and 90s as he continues to perform and record his own personal interpretation of the idiom he both mastered and helped define.
http://www.geocities.com/bourbonstreet/delta/4733/bio.html