Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
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Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
1–10 of 23 posts
Re: Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
#2He was the last of the legends.
Re: Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
#3He was the last of the legends.
Definitely on sax.
On bass we still have Ron Carter, age 89, still touring.
Re: Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
#4We saw him live in Kansas City in 1998. He soloed for 36 choruses on St. Thomas. Gave the people what they came to see. Amazing to have so many ideas flow effortlessly.
Re: Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
#5Comes just a few days after the death of Dick Parry, Pink Floyd's saxophonist.
Re: Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
#6My favorite Sony Rollins story: he heard ‘Waiting on a Friend’ in a grocery store.
He thought to himself, “finally, a Rolling Stones song that I like.”
Then he remembered he was the saxophone player on the song…
Re: Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
#7He was the last of the legends.
Definitely on sax. On bass we still have Ron Carter, age 89, still touring.
Sonny Rollins was probably the last great player from the bebop age though who was there at its birth, and probably the last master who played with Charlie Parker too!
Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock are still going strong of course, and still brilliant. George Coleman, Jack DeJohnette, and Dave Holland are all still playing to pick some other names at random.
Re: Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Definitely on sax. On bass we still have Ron Carter, age 89, still touring.
Sonny Rollins was probably the last great player from the bebop age though who was there at its birth, and probably the last master who played with Charlie Parker too! Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock are still going strong of course, and still brilliant. George Coleman, Jack DeJohnette, and Dave Holland are all still playing to pick some other names at random.
Jack DeJohnette died in October.
Re: Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
#9I saw Sonny Rollins at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1997. I bought a single ticket from a classified ad. The group who sold it were about 10 or 12 people who have been attending together for 30 years — the type of people you would want to be sitting with there.
Diana Krall opened and by open I mean she was the first of 4 acts and had a free concert a couple days before at a coffee shop down the street — practically unknown.
Sonny Rollins headlined and for the encore he played La Cucaracha. After about 20 minutes of La Cucaracha the pianist was signaling to the sound engineer to cut the sound. 5 minutes later the band one by one started to put down their instruments walking off the stage. Sonny Rollins kept belting La Cucaracha from his saxophone probably for another half hour or more after that. Life is good.
Re: Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonist, has died
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Definitely on sax. On bass we still have Ron Carter, age 89, still touring.
Sonny Rollins was probably the last great player from the bebop age though who was there at its birth, and probably the last master who played with Charlie Parker too! Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock are still going strong of course, and still brilliant. George Coleman, Jack DeJohnette, and Dave Holland are all still playing to pick some other names at random.
I have to admit, I was a little surprised to discover that Rollins was still alive. You tend to assume that giants like him are all in the distant past, not still walking the earth.