“Jazz is a unique art form in that it enables – in fact, it requires – the artist to perform on the fly, as part of a unit of other musicians and without a safety net, and it demands not only immense technical skill, but a mind that can constantly plumb the depths of creativity to avoid cliché and deliver something new, exciting, clever, unique and, at times, innovative. In the mid-1940s there was a revolution in jazz that came to be known as bebop, led by musicians such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. Sonny Rollins came along as a teenager at the tail end of the bebop revolution and he was able to fuse the concepts of this new generation with the ideas and masters of the previous generation, such as Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, to bring the art of jazz improvisation to levels that the music has rarely seen, before or since. If you listen to some of the masterful Sonny Rollins albums of the 1950s, such as Worktime or Saxophone Colossus, you will hear an artist who was able to set new standards of improvisation – in creativity, in humor, in conception, in technique – that truly changed the course of jazz history and influenced every single jazz musician who came afterwards. With one or two exceptions, Sonny Rollins was without peer as an improviser, as a genius in creating music that was fresh, bursting with energy and ideas, and always inspiring.

“But Sonny was never content to rest on his laurels and, in fact, was never satisfied with his own work, even though his colleagues and peers came to respect, admire and laud him as one of the true masters of modern jazz. One of the things that makes Sonny Rollins so special among jazz artists has been his true humility and belief that he can always improve, always learn more. This quest led him famously to the Williamsburg Bridge, where he spent two years in self-imposed retirement to practice and improve his skills. This quest to be innovative, to improve, to experiment, to pioneer, has also led Sonny in many other directions, and continues to lead him to this day. Not many people realize it, but one of the the first record albums in the United States to use the words “Bossa Nova” was the Sonny Rollins album “What’s New?” Not many people realize that it was Sonny Rollins who composed and performed the music to the original movie Alfie. Not many people realize it, but it is Sonny Rollins who is regarded all around the world – in France and England, in Japan and Russia, in South America – almost everywhere – as one of the true treasures of American jazz and one of the great musicians the world has produced in the past century. It is wonderful, exciting and long overdue that Sonny Rollins is finally receiving this same recognition in the United States.”

Last night I went to bed with tears in my eyes seeing the news that Sonny had died at age 95. This morning I woke up, pulled out a dozen of my favorite Sonny records, and headed to the radio studio in Pittsfield to record a tribute to Sonny. On the way I called my friend Dan Axelrod to reminisce and share stories:

The rainy night in 1972 that Sonny returned to the Village Vanguard for the first time in years and we were able to hear him live for the first time. Bliss!

The night at the Half Note in the middle of the week, last set, there were eight of us in the audience: Danny and me and a table of three dressed-to-the-nines couples from Sugar Hill in Harlem, who said they hadn’t been out to see live jazz in years, and Sonny put on a show for them that might have been the most inspired tenor playing I ever heard in my life.

The time we were shut out of the Museum of Modern Art when Sonny was giving a free solo show and, without hesitation, I went up to the press gate and confidently said I was Bob Porter representing Downbeat Magazine. I was 5’5” and about 150 pounds; Bob Porter was about 6’2” and 230 pounds. No matter. They let us in and we just blended into the crowd. What happened to Porter? Don’t know and don’t care. Danny and I saw Sonny.

This morning I told these and other stories on the radio and played many of my favorite Sonny Rollins records. To be honest, most were from the 1950s. Not that his later material wasn’t worthy, just that this was the Sonny Rollins music I first heard and first fell in love with. And still love and will always love.

Once the show airs, I’ll post it here at Jazz Collector. I hope you enjoy it. I know that the regular crowd isn’t here as frequently as in the past, but if you do happen to stop by looking for words about one of our true heroes, and if you happen to have anything to share about Mr. Rollins, this would be as good a place as any.

It is the end of an era, isn’t it?

The post Sonny Rollins first appeared on jazzcollector.com.]]> https://jazzcollector.com/features/sonny-rollins/feed/ 4 9978 https://jazzcollector.com/podcast/podcast-reverse-crossover/ https://jazzcollector.com/podcast/podcast-reverse-crossover/#respond Mon, 11 May 2026 12:44:20 +0000 https://jazzcollector.com/?p=9964 This week’s theme: Jazz recordings of songs from the pop/rock, television and even maybe a little Yiddish. Artists include George Benson, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, [...]

Of course. The same invitation is open to anyone. Stuart reminded me that it is almost 10 years to the day since we published an earlier article – Adventures in Jazz Collecting, Tokyo Style. Couldn’t help but notice that there were 54 comments on that article. Bravo to Stuart and all of the commenters. Ah, the good old days.

Anyway, the article arrived the other day, along with the title Stuart suggested title, so, without further ado, may we present:

The Records (But Not the Music) Are Over

By Stuart Levine

Well, I did it. I sold my jazz record collection. Now approaching 70, I’m trying to downsize and just not finding the opportunity to listen to my LPs. You see, for years I’ve been living in Japan with my wife and two daughters, while all this time storing my records and audio equipment back on the West Coast. The irony is that I’m in the land (or rather, on the island) whose people love our American art form of Jazz, yet I, myself, can’t listen to my own records. I don’t want to bore anyone with details as to why not, but suffice it to say that living quarters are tight there and sound travels easily.

I’ll miss visiting the record stores – the crate digging and conversations with fellow vinyl enthusiasts. It had all started during my college days with CTI and fusion. But later, I discovered Hard Bop and “watch out” – I was hooked! Good thing I started making some decent money because as you know, those Blue Notes are expensive. So gone are roughly 400 LPs; however, I did keep a few. They are Somethin’ Else, Maiden Voyage and Kind of Blue.  All are first pressings. My copy of Kind of Blue is very early.  Just couldn’t part with these three.

As far as sales went, I did pretty well with my treasured vinyl. A VG++ Cool Struttin’ came in at a cool $4,283. A near mint Wahoo did a whopping $1,725 and even a VG+ Juju sold for $900, netting me $630. Yep, further evidence of Blue Notes’ cachet. On the other hand, Impulse didn’t do so well. My pristine mono copy of Blues and the Abstract Truth disappointed at 75 bucks. Gosh, darn it … wish I could have that one back as well as other gems in my collection such as Saxophone Colossus and A Love Supreme. Oh, stop it, Stuart! You’re done! There are always cds.

But before I close, I’d like to give shout outs to Charles Pearlman of Strictly Headies and Jason Perlmutter of Carolina Soul (thanks to Al for recommending Jason). They did such a professional job of listing my records on their eBay sites. With Charlie, who sold most of my jazz records, I got to visit Portland, Oregon, enjoying the greenery I don’t get in the Las Vegas desert where my parents live. And for the first time, I flew to Durham, North Carolina to meet Jason with a few jazz LPs and a good number of rock records. So, thanks guys … you represented my collection well, and I’m sure my records are spinning right now on worthy turntables. As for me, I think I’ll give a listen to “Stolen Moments” from my laptop computer.

This week’s theme: It’s Springtime! Featured artists include Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Dexter Gordon, Karin Krog, Kenny Drew, Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson, Carmen McRae, Stan Getz, Shelly Manne, LeRoy Vinnegar, Lou Levy, Conte Candoli, Johnny Griffin, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Arthur Taylor, Kenny Dorham, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, Cedar Walton, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Richie Powell, George Morrow, Harold Land, Sarah Vaughan, John Coltrane, Wilbur Hardin, Astrud Gilberto.

This week’s theme: Kenny Drew as a sideman and a leader. Featured artists include Kenny Drew, Hank Mobley, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, Niels Henning Orsted Pederson, Dexter Gordon, Percy Heath, Tootie Heath, and more.

This week’s theme: Celebrating the New Year with jazz vinyl featuring the number 26 in the catalog number. Featured artists include Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Jack Sheldon, Herb Geller, Loraine Geller, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Tommy Flanagan, George Morrow, Clifford Brown, Gigi Gryce, Art Blakey, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Joe Morello, Eugene Wright, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, Nelson Riddle, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Drew, Lawrence Marable, Curtis Counce, Harold Land, Jack Sheldon, Billie Holiday, Benny Carter, Sweets Edison, Count Basie, Buddy DeFranco, and more.

This week’s theme: Duets. Featured artists include John Cotrane, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, Philly Joe Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Art Pepper, George Cables, Al Cohn, Jimmy Rowles, Tal Farlow, Dan Axelrod, Stephane Grappelli, Marc Fosset, Zoot Sims, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Lewis, Hank Jones, George Shearing, Carmen McRae, Rosemary Clooeny, Ed Bickert, Nancy Lamott, Christopher Marlowe, Ken Sebesky.

A few weeks ago, on the radio show I was playing tracks from the album John Coltrane Ballads, Impulse 32. I brought the vinyl into the studio, but I wanted to have backup, so I also brought in the Deluxe edition CD set. As I was doing the show, I noticed that the CD set has a previously unreleased duet version of They Say It’s Wonderful, the Irving Berlin song, featuring just a duet by Trane and McCoy Tyner. It’s a wonderful track and amazing that it was sitting in a vault for 40 years. I provided a link to it on YouTube.

Anyway, it gave me an idea to do a whole show on duets, starting with that track. The next one I thought of was Sonny Rollins and Philly Joe Jones, Surrey With the Fringe on Top from New’s Time, Blue Note 4001. Then I did what I normally do to prepare a show, I started going through my records. I have my records loosely organized in three categories: Instrumentals pre-1970s, instrumentals 1970 and later, vocals. There are various sub-categories because, like many of you I’m sure, I love to organize and reorganize, probably a little too obsessively.

Anyway, I started going through the 1970s and later records and I pulled out more than 30 records of various types: The five duet albums Oscar Peterson did with trumpet players, Zoot and Bucky, George Shearing and Hank Jones, Art Pepper and George Cables. You get the drift. At that point, I knew I had several shows and I never even bothered to go through the more collectible records from pre-1970. But based on this strictly anecdotal research, it seems to me that duet albums and tracks become more of a thing later on in the jazz vinyl era.

So here’s the thing: If you can think of any good duet albums or tracks, please comment here. If I have them in my collection, I’ll see if I can use them on the show. As I said, I’ve already pulled out more than 30 records, so I’m sure we’ll have some duplication. But I thought it would be a fun project to share here at Jazz Collector if any of my former regular readers and commenters are still around. In any case, I’ll try to be doing more regular posts for a while, so perhaps we’ll build up a regular following once again.

This week’s theme: Songs that have the name of a woman in the title. Eclectic, but fun. And some great music. Featured artists include Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Wynton Kelly, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Connie Kay, Percy Heath, Eddie Jefferson, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, Miles Davis, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Rushing, and many more.