{"id":537,"date":"2011-09-07T15:51:29","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T19:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=537"},"modified":"2011-09-07T15:51:29","modified_gmt":"2011-09-07T19:51:29","slug":"congrats-to-sonny-rollins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/09\/congrats-to-sonny-rollins.html","title":{"rendered":"Congrats to Sonny Rollins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saxophonist supreme Sonny Rollins<\/a> turns 81 today, and was announced as recipient of 2011 Kennedy Center honors. He really deserves it: he’s been a beacon of robust, smart, honest American music for more than 60 years.\u00c2\u00a0Surfing for clips, I found this of “Alfie’s Theme”<\/a> from 1982, but there are many good ones from earlier and later in his career.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Bret “the Jazz Video Guy” Primack has done heroic work documenting the Man — check out their\u00c2\u00a0collaborative video biography<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 But as a sampler of his recordings, I recommend these five fine Sonny Rollins tracks, which may not be the typical critics’ picks, but are among my favorites. It’s easy to think of 50 or maybe 500 others.<\/p>\n

“Strode Rode<\/a>” — From Saxophone Colossus<\/em> (1956). A hard-bop tribute to athlete and actor Woody Strode, who portrayed characters of integrity in John Ford westerns, and elsewhere. Rollins’ quartet is driven by drummer Max Roach.<\/p>\n

“Love Is A Simple Thing”<\/a> from Sonny Rollins\/Brass-Sonny Rollins\/Trio<\/em> (1958). Sonny’s huge tenor sound soars boldly over a large ensemble of all-stars (Nat Adderly, Clark Terry, Ernie Royal in the trumpets; Roy Haynes drums and Henry Grimes, bass; Ernie Wilkins, arranger\/conductor).<\/p>\n

“Just Friends<\/a>” from All The Things You Are: Sonny Meets Hawk <\/em>\u00c2\u00a0(1962). Coleman Hawkins, first and foremost tenor saxophonist in jazz, was Rollins’ near neighbor and idol while he was growing up on Sugar Hill in Harlem. Together, their interaction is master\/acolyte<\/a>. Hawkins goes first, Rollins comes on obliquely and continunes, jagged. Herbie Hancock on piano.<\/p>\n

“Jungoso<\/a>” from What’s New?<\/em> (1962). Just Rollins, growling, propelled through 10 minutes by Candido on congas and Bob Cranshaw, who is still Sonny’s bassist.<\/p>\n

“Isn’t She Lovely<\/a>“\u00c2\u00a0from Easy Living<\/em> (1977). Composer Stevie Wonder couldn’t have hoped for a more exuberant rendition of his celebration of a new daughter. Tony Williams, drums; George Duke, keyboards. The album boasts two other especially dynamic tracks: “Arroz con Pollo” on which Rollins plays soprano sax — take that, Kenny G! — and “Hear What I’m Saying,” plus Rollin’s beautiful interpretation of the title track.<\/p>\n

One piece that will bear repeated listening by jazz aficionados for eons is about to be released: “Sonnymoon for Two<\/a>,” in the 21 minute exchange Sonny’s had with Ornette Coleman backed by bassist Christian McBride and drummer Roy Haynes, from R’s 80th birthday concert at the Beacon Theater in NYC. It’s on the album Road Shows Vol. 2<\/em>, dropping Sept. 13.<\/p>\n

howardmandel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Subscribe by Email or RSS<\/a><\/p>\n

All JBJ posts <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saxophonist supreme Sonny Rollins turns 81 today, and was announced as recipient of 2011 Kennedy Center honors. He really deserves it: he’s been a beacon of robust, smart, honest American music for more than 60 years.\u00c2\u00a0Surfing for clips, I found this of “Alfie’s Theme” from 1982, but there are many good ones from earlier and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-8F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":338,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/09\/sonny_the_sax_king.html","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":0},"title":"Sonny the sax king","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"At age 80, Sonny Rollins is indisputably the greatest living jazz tenor saxophonist, proved last night throughout a 2-hour set at New York's sold-out Beacon Theater in which harmolodic sage Ornette Coleman sat in, backed by drummer Roy Haynes and bassist Christian McBride, on \"Tenor Madness.\"\u00a0\u00a0\"Sonnymoon For Two\". Rollins was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":341,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/09\/video_for_fans_of_sonny_rollin.html","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":1},"title":"Video for fans of Sonny Rollins & harmolodics","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Too good to not post: Ornette Coleman was surprise guest with Sonny Rollins at his fast-become-famous Beacon Theater 80th birthday party on September 10 (backstage there was birthday cake shaped like a saxophone, made of marzipan). Note SR's quote at about 10 minutes in of \"I'll Take Manhattan,\" which he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":118,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/08\/sonny_rollins_in_chicago.html","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":2},"title":"Sonny Rollins in Chicago","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Sonny Rollins at 78 is still a saxophone collosus, as he demonstrated leading his touring sextet Thursday night to open the Chicago Jazz Festival. His bent posture, shock of white hair and strong features give him the air of an Old Testament prophet, and his stamina may not be all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Chicago Jazz festival\"","block_context":{"text":"Chicago Jazz festival","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/tag\/chicago-jazz-festival"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":339,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/09\/sonny_beacon_bootlegged_video.html","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":3},"title":"Sonny @ Beacon bootlegged video clip","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A bootlegged video excerpt of Sonny Rollins at the Beacon Theater, 9\/10\/2010 is available on youtube -- the sound doesn't do him justice, and I don't intend to encourage unauthorized video, but it is out there to give the world a brief idea of last night's concert.\u00a0On the other hand,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":385,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/03\/president_obama_digs_sonny_rol.html","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":4},"title":"President Obama digs Sonny Rollins","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"March 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"President Barack Obama paid beautiful lip service to great American artists and arts yesterday, conferring the 2010 National Medal of Arts and Humanities on heroes including Sonny Rollins, age 80. \"I speak personally here,\" said the president at 3 minutes, 30 seconds into his address, alluding to authors, poets, historians,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":343,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/09\/jazz_elders_cast_giant_shadows.html","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":5},"title":"Jazz elders cast giant shadows","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Why isn't the amazing current generation of creative (jazz) musicians better known? Maybe because major artists of the not-so-distant past are practicing the art form at splendid peaks, overturning clich\u00c3\u00a9s about dwindling powers of octogenarians. Read my column in City Arts New York for a report that touches on Sonny\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"muhal.jpeg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/assets_c\/2010\/09\/muhal-thumb-275x183-17303.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}