Sonny Rollins: sax colossus

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts on a titan of jazz.

See photographer Jamie-James Medina in conversation with Sonny Rollins here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/video/2010/jan/22/american-legends-sonny-rollins


"My love for Sonny goes back a long way. I would have been 15 or 16 when I first played his records, first with Max Roach and Clifford Brown, then his stuff with Miles, and then of course on his own. I first saw him in 1964 in the original Birdland club on 52nd Street, playing with a trio. To sit there and watch Sonny Rollins, my God! In those days he did this fantastic thing: he used to start playing in the dressing room with no band, then walk out and go around the stage, using the room to bounce the sound off. It was amazing. I'd never seen anyone do that.

"He was incredibly hip and looked fabulous, and he still does. We have the same tailor friend who makes our clothes in New York, and Sonny is still a very sharp man. He looks amazing. He's gone perfectly white in his beard and hair; it's like Samuel Beckett when he got old.

"I've been fortunate enough to get to know him a bit. Mick [Jagger] asked me about a tenor player for the Stones' Waiting on a Friend and I suggested Sonny. He did that song then wanted to have a go at another one, a real lairy rock'n'roll thing called Neighbours. He played great on it. It was an overdub, unfortunately, so we never played together. Probably just as well. My goodness, I'd sit there and think, 'bloody hell, what am I going to do here?'I'd feel like an impostor, because that's the highest company you can keep.

"There are people who burn bright and fade quickly, and there are those who burn bright and keep going. You have to admire that. Sonny has never made a bad record – ever; some are simply greater than others. When he stands and plays, there isn't a saxophone player who doesn't look on in awe. He's the last one standing, and he's still playing as well today as he was then. He's still at the peak at what he does. It's great inspiration that there isn't really a time limit, but very few people can do it at that level.

His wife died a few years ago and it hit him very hard. He became much more reclusive, but we ring each other now and then. He's not just a saxophone player, he's something else. He's iconic, a leader without having to explicitly say it. I think you'd follow Sonny into war."

Key recording: Saxophone Colossus (Prestige, 1956)


- The Observer, 24/1/10

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/24/sonny-rollins-charlie-watts

i'm not a huge jazz buff but i was totally blown away seeing this guy play at a club about ten years ago. if you havent seen this man play then go even if your just a rock and roller.

Thanks Gazza.Charlie's a great interview.
I still have a copy of 'Modern Drummer' magazine, where Charlie spends nearly the entire interview talking about all his drum heroes, Max Roach, Shelley Manne, Elvin Jones, Billy Higgins, etc.

He's always so funny and self-efacing about his own drumming.

In one interview he was discussing Simon Phillips, the great session man (Roxy Music, The Who, Big Country briefly, etc.), and Charlie said he'd played Simon's drums (he plays a huge kit, double kicks and all that), and said he was mortified, he didn't know what to do with all those drums!

His impression of actually utilizing such a large kit was (and I quote):

"Doing, doing...doing...doing..."

Mr. Yeats wrote on Jan 24^th, 2010 at 5:38pm:

Thanks Gazza.Charlie's a great interview. I still have a copy of 'Modern Drummer' magazine, where Charlie spends nearly the entire interview talking about all his drum heroes, Max Roach, Shelley Manne, Elvin Jones, Billy Higgins, etc. He's always so funny and self-efacing about his own drumming. In one interview he was discussing Simon Phillips, the great session man (Roxy Music, The Who, Big Country briefly, etc.), and Charlie said he'd played Simon's drums (he plays a huge kit, double kicks and all that), and said he was mortified, he didn't know what to do with all those drums! His impression of actually utilizing such a large kit was (and I quote): "Doing, doing...doing...doing..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPirYDvwM30

Rollins sax on WOAF is incredible. Just before the face out he does this little bit which (in my mind) is his idea of "the friend" coming into view of the singer/story teller of the song. He bounces his notes joyously. I get a chill up my spine every time i hear that bit.

Simon Phillips - what happened to him? he was incredible. He was Jagger's drummer on his 1988 solo tour of Oz. Frigging brilliant!

Phillips was the drummer with The Who after their reunion in 1989.

He replaced Jeff Porcaro in Toto when Porcaro died in 1992 and stayed with them until they disbanded a year or two.

He's also done a few solo projects too, I think.