[LiAm84]

Great interview with Sonny Rollins:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...AmmYW64HGFsWLff3njLHUiuNkJXNHzgb8MTbXIRNvBzDo

 

[Phil Barone]

Great interview with Sonny Rollins:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...AmmYW64HGFsWLff3njLHUiuNkJXNHzgb8MTbXIRNvBzDo

When Sonny came to me we got to talking about heroin and he told me he robbed a liquor store with a plastic pistol and the guy pulled out a real gun so he went to jail. We both laughed about that. We exchanged cards and letters for a while, still got them around here somewhere. Phil

 

[rhysonsax]

Very nice interview with the great man. And some wonderful photographs that I haven't seen before.

I remember being in the audience when Sonny was being interviewed in London, maybe in 1986, and he came across as a very warm and thoughtful person.

Rhys

 

[Benjamin Allen]

Great interview with Sonny Rollins:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...AmmYW64HGFsWLff3njLHUiuNkJXNHzgb8MTbXIRNvBzDo

Thanks for posting this. It's a great interview.

 

[soybean]

Wow! That was enlightning. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jazz Is All]

Yes, thank you so much. Sonny was my first major jazz and Saxophone hero. And incredible musician and human being. The interview is very powerful and means a lot to me to read it.

 

[Fltenor]

Thank you for sharing. That's a very nice interview. About a year and a half ago I read this book about conversations with Sonny.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GD4X9WS/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

Very insightful.

 

[johnebravo]

He's as impressive as a person as he was as a musician. Another thank you for posting the link.

 

[carvingcode]

Enjoyed the interview. Sonny is a force.

 

[Jazzoetry]

I always enjoy the jazz experience words of wisdom of Sonny Rollins. Although he can't play his Sax, his words are always "Music to my ears". Thanks.

 

[BOPITY FUNK]

Yes! great interview with the master.

 

[Lambros]

fantastic interview from the man who's basically seen and experienced it all in modern jazz. I get the sense that Miles' death almost 30 years ago really affected Sonny and it puts his current state of mind in well deserved serene space; Stoic acceptance that he can't play anymore...

 

[Jazz Is All]

fantastic interview from the man who's basically seen and experienced it all in modern jazz. I get the sense that Miles' death almost 30 years ago really affected Sonny and it puts his current state of mind in well deserved serene space; Stoic acceptance that he can't play anymore...

Well, he's still alive and has already seen that happen to Miles and then Freddie Hubbard and then Horace Silver. So I think like all of us who finally accept the reality of the effects of entropy on our body, he knows we have no choice but to accept it and keep on trucking as best we can. What that means is mentally because as long as one's mind hasn't also gone, there is plenty that still can be accomplished. Well, I hope so anyway.

 

[mrpeebee]

I love these quotes about the recording he did with the Rolling Stones and have respect for how tactful Sonny described it!

Mick Jagger, I don't think he understood what I was doing, and I didn't understand what he was doing. My wife was the one that persuaded me to do that recording. I said: "Man, the Rolling Stones. I don't want to do any record with the Rolling Stones." I'd considered them - and it's faulty - not on the level of jazz.

I do remember once I was in the supermarket up in Hudson, New York, and they were playing Top 40 records. I heard this song and thought, Who's that guy? His playing struck a chord in me. Then I said, "Wait a minute, that's me!" It was my playing on one of those Rolling Stones records.

 

[Lambros]

All good comments and it sets Sonny apart from most as he always saw that physical self preservation was as important as creativity, spirituality, a sense of community both in the micro and macro aspect, etc. His respect for Miles as an artist and a personality are really made clear in this interview. Somewhat converse in feeling is his personal emphasis on his contained misgivings over Tenor Madness; for some reason I knew he must have felt that Trane outshone him on that record and that he acquiesced/deferred to the younger player. Interesting assessment for sure

Well, he's still alive and has already seen that happen to Miles and then Freddie Hubbard and then Horace Silver. So I think like all of us who finally accept the reality of the effects of entropy on our body, he knows we have no choice but to accept it and keep on trucking as best we can. What that means is mentally because as long as one's mind hasn't also gone, there is plenty that still can be accomplished. Well, I hope so anyway.

 

[TroubleClef]

I'm surprised by his comments about "holding back" and having a bad attitude on the Tenor Madness track with Coltrane, at least based on the examples given in the article. True or not, that recording is an all-time classic and to the extent he might have been holding back it was a fine contrast to what Trane was doing in my opinion. To me it all sounded very musical and tasteful.

The author also mentioned Sonny playing a line from Trane backwards while trading fours as being one-upmanship, but isn't a little of that just part of the game in that situation? Call and response, playing off each others ideas... what's the point of trading if you're not doing a little of that as long as it's still musical and not over the top disrespect?

 

[KeithL]

I love these quotes about the recording he did with the Rolling Stones and have respect for how tactful Sonny described it!

He may say that and may have even been consciously thinking it but the solos on Waiting On a Friend are masterpieces in that context.