Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins is an American jazz tenor saxophonist, widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded at least sixty albums as leader and a number of his compositions, including "St. Thomas", "Oleo", "Doxy", "Pent-Up House", and "Airegin", have become jazz standards...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSaxophonist
Date of Birth7 September 1930
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
brought certain demands difficult good great groove miles musicians physical point stay truth youthful
If you could do that, it's great to do it. And a lot of great musicians have done it. A lot of musicians get to a point and stay in that groove all of their career. I have just not been able to do it because I don't think I'm a good enough musician. Someone was criticizing Miles, and Miles said, 'The truth is, it's much more difficult for me to play the way I did in 1947. It's really a physical thing. Sure, I like to experiment, but it's really a physical element.' He brought up a good point. That kind of playing, you've got to be young, in a way. It demands a certain youthful vigor.
american-musician jazz kinds varied
I don't think jazz should try to change. I think jazz is varied enough and there is so many different kinds of jazz. So jazz doesn't need to change.
mean musician example
There have been many great musicians that, Clifford Brown is one great example, I mean he died very early, 25.
long would-be musician
I guess I'm fortunate that I'm still around and I emphasize 'I guess', because you never can tell what musicians would be playing had they been around as long as I have.
artist long musician
Europeans really provided many venues over there and hailed the jazz artists, and a lot of musicians went over there and stayed over there for a long time. A lot of them moved over there, lived over there, and died over there.
way facts musician
I have always been a person who is concerned with the dignity of jazz music and the way jazz musicians have been treated and are treated, and the fact that the music has not been given the kind of due that it deserves.
against attacked both coming common conditions curriculum faced introduced jazz larger majority minority music popular portion social subculture topic ways
As the years went by and jazz got more popular and social conditions changed, you were able to have jazz as a topic introduced into the music curriculum in universities, ... I think that one thing that hip-hop and jazz have in common is that they are both coming out of the minority subculture and we've faced some of the same problems. They are attacked in different ways . . . but they are a minority in a majority culture, so they are unfortunately discriminated against by the larger portion of the majority community.
bit hostile people
I don't want to appear hostile, like I'm hostile to L.A. or that I feel that the people don't appreciate jazz. I don't think it's that. I think it's something more. It's something a little bit more complicated than that.
above enjoy great happy horn love meditation mentally playing puts type
I am always happy to be practicing. Period, ... I enjoy just playing my horn and going into the type of meditation that playing involves. It puts me mentally in a place that is always transcendent and above real life. I love playing just for myself. It's a great experience.
life seeking stop
Many jazz artists go to L.A. seeking a more comfortable life and then they really stop playing.
strongest various
I feel that L.A. has not always been my strongest base for support. That can be for various reasons.
cared margins
We were right on the margins of society. Who really cared about jazz?
europe jazz true work
There are a lot of jazz musicians, however, who do have to go to Europe and most of their work is in Europe. That's not true for me.
distinct fats giants honor included people worthy
It was a distinct honor because of the people inducted. Some were such giants of the music. I didn't really feel worthy to be included with Fats Waller.