{"id":10230,"date":"2018-09-07T17:45:45","date_gmt":"2018-09-08T00:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=10230"},"modified":"2018-09-07T17:47:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-08T00:47:00","slug":"sonny-rollins-at-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2018\/09\/sonny-rollins-at-88\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonny Rollins at 88"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/AFSR-350x233-e1536366137338.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-10231\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/AFSR-350x233-e1536366137338.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"340\" height=\"226\" \/><\/a>Today is Sonny Rollins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 88th birthday. He looks back on a lifetime in music that began when he was a teenager in New York City and took him to the heights of his profession, and of creativity unmatched by few artists in any category. It is tempting to bring you a survey of the saxophonist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most notable works, but lists can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say what music can. Mr. Rollins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best playing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwith its rhythmic power, lyricism and wit\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhelps a listener understand how jazz at its most expressive represents the spirit and character of a great nation. Let&#8217;s listen.<\/p>\n<p>Here are two of his masterpieces; first, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153St. Thomas,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a reflection of his Caribbean (Virgin Islands) heritage. This was filmed in Copenhagen at the Jazzhus Montmarte with Kenny Drew, piano; Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, bass; and Albert &#8220;Tootie&#8221; Heath, drums.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v4DTR0I7xhA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p>From 1955 and Sonny Rollins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s indispensable <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2MULVoS\"><em>Worktime<\/em><\/a> album, here is his transformation of a classic Irving Berlin song. I have always hoped that Berlin had a chance to hear it. This is where two of those qualities mentioned above, Sonny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s power and his wit, make a famous showstopper even more dramatic. He has inspirational backing from pianist Ray Bryant, bassist George Morrow, and drummer Max Roach, who has an inspired solo.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ep6QCvgwNe8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-align: left;\">Happy Birthday, Sonny Rollins. Congratulations on a magnificent career.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today is Sonny Rollins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 88th birthday. He looks back on a lifetime in music that began when he was a teenager in New York City and took him to the heights of his profession, and of creativity unmatched by few artists in any category. It is tempting to bring you a survey of the saxophonist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10231,"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":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}