Sonny Rollins' birthday

[jazzbluescat]

Happy big seventy-five. :) And still strong.

[paulwl]

In commemoration Sonny finally has his own website...and it looks pretty cool:

http://www.sonnyrollins.com - the man, the music, legend, and now...the domain.

[bobsax]

I wonder what his secret is ? It seems like sax players tend to depart sooner then later .
Sonny's early early stuff it's so joyful and energetic and technical for anyone thats tried to play the solos) .

I wore out my old Milestone reissues from the seventies . I think there were two double LP's .A pink one with Sonny in his mohawk and a green one .
Sadly , to me at least, it seems like something happened to him and he got worse . His sound is shaky and often out of tune in the upper register and sometimes it sounds like his tongue can't keep up with his fingers .

[baga]

Sonny Rollins is great.
I was just listening to a 4-cd compilation of Sonny Rollins tunes, early stuff, Miles on the trumpet, sometimes Monk on the piano, Milt Jackson on the vibes, very be-bop influenced stuff. And everything is so cool, no rush about being the best of or something, just cool music, great heads to tunes, and some very amazing solos. Sonny's playing is so full of rhythm, but the rest of the band are just kicking. Clean piano solos, etc. Great stuff.
Listen to old Sonny stuff, not just the hit tunes everybody knows.

(P.S. Because everybody knows Max Roach just kicks ***, and Blue Seven is a legend in itself).

[jazzbluescat]

Thanks for the link Paul.

I wonder what his secret is ? It seems like sax players tend to depart sooner then later .
Sonny's early early stuff it's so joyful and energetic and technical for anyone thats tried to play the solos) .

I wore out my old Milestone reissues from the seventies . I think there were two double LP's .A pink one with Sonny in his mohawk and a green one .
Sadly , to me at least, it seems like something happened to him and he got worse . His sound is shaky and often out of tune in the upper register and sometimes it sounds like his tongue can't keep up with his fingers .

He's pretty much(or was) a health nut. He cleaned up his act and changed his style at The Bridge recording.
That one with the mohawk is Now's The Time, I believe, with the second recording of St. Thomas? Killer recording with Hancock, McCurdy and Crenshaw[Thad Jones]. It's a mostly yellow cover BTW :).
NPR played a snipet of something by him while mentioning his birthday. Aside from that I haven't heard any of his new stuff. It sounded a bit garbled. If I listened to it a few times, it might of made more sense; sounded good though, especially for a 75 yo dude.

[saxaxxion]

If there are any really big Sonny fans here (yes, it would be impossible for their not to be...), I have a special custom made mouthpiece he used during the 90's for sale on eBay. It was made and specially enscribed by Phil Barone. If you are a fan or collector, check it out. Just type in Sonny Rollins and it should come up!

[jrvinson45]

Heeeeyyyy... Now that I'm 60, 75 doesn't seem all that old... true enough some of the early dudes checked out too early, (Parker, Desmond, Cannonball, Cotrane, Zoot, Sonny Stitt, Getz, Art Pepper, etc...) BUT those guys didn't take very good care of the hardware. Check out Phil Woods, Houston Person, Bobby Militello, and what's the name of that soprano sax guy? Oh yeah Maynard Ferguson. And that doesn't even begin to mention new old guys like Harri 'n me and we intend to be around past 75. Keep sheddin' it's good for your health! I think it was Richie Cole who said something like "stay away from drugs and religious fanatics."

I know this was an older post, but a nerve was struck.