As you might expect I’ve been in a bit of a Sonny Rollins head lately, lots of great memories of seeing him live. When he would do a week-long gig at the Vanguard or Half Note, I would see him just about every night, every set, usually going with my friend Dan Axelrod. One of the great things, out of many great things, about Sonny was that he never seemed to play the same way each night, even though he would have a set song list for the entire week’s gig. He was always pushing himself to find new ways of expression. Anyway, being in this head, I’ve spent some time perusing YouTube in the past few weeks, looking at vintage Rollins performances, interviews and tributes. Here are some of my favorites. Please feel free to share yours in the comments section.
The Jazz Video Guy has some great interviews, including
Art Tatum and the Great American Songbook
Finally, Dan sent me this amazing article from The Nation
Sonny Rollins Lived To See Justice for His Wrongly Convicted Father
