Comments on: Happy Birthday, Sonny Rollins

By: J Spiers

J Spiers — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 13:29:43 +0000

I had a ticket to see Sonny at the Royal Albert Hall a few years ago. It would have been my first time seeing him. He cancelled as he was unwell, and as far as I know he hasn’t played a gig since.

Could kick myself as I had many chances to see him over the years but never did.

By: Anders Wallinder-Mähler

Anders Wallinder-Mähler — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 06:38:14 +0000

This site is also about Jazz Collecting memories 😉

By: gw

gw — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 16:38:21 +0000

Newk at Keystone Corner in San Francisco 1971. My wife and my third date. Played the “ Everywhere Calypso” amogst others.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 09:13:40 +0000

I saw Sonny in London at the Barbican – would have loved to see him in a club setting rather than a slightly sterile concert venue

By: Mark Hall

Mark Hall — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 03:18:46 +0000

I never got the opportunity to see Rollins play in person, so i envy all of you who have seen him play in person, [ i hope Paul is just joking about his comment

By: hardbopster

hardbopster — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 00:18:48 +0000

Saw him some 20 years back at Yoshi’s. Fantastic, as was his bass player who played Haitian Fight Song while the rest of the crew took a break.

By: octogenarian buff

octogenarian buff — Sun, 11 Sep 2022 14:15:49 +0000

I saw Sonny on several occasions in both Copenhagen and London from the sixties onwards. Built like heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, he always managed to mesmerize his audience by having the physical upper hand. My friends and I always had a bet on his new incarnation. Would he look like a Mohawk, Angela Davis or a baldheaded eagle. Irrespective of his looks his playing invariably exuded exuberance and boundless inventiveness. His habit of starting playing already in his dressing room before entering the stage bore witness to his all-out commitment to music making. Sad to learn that he was playing to almost empty houses in New York. In Copenhagen he was lionized and sorely missed if he didn’t visit for awhile.

By: hardbopster

hardbopster — Sun, 11 Sep 2022 05:12:17 +0000

I don’t know who Paul is, but to each his own. I saw Sonny at Yoshi’s some 20 years back. Great set, and during his break, a fellow with his band who had won some sort of Eastern European award for Bass, did a killer rendition of Haitian Fight song.

By: Kristian Kristiansen

Kristian Kristiansen — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 22:30:36 +0000

I saw Sonny first time in Copenhagen, must have been 1966, with Niels Henning
Ørsted Pedersen on bass and Alan Dawson on drum. It was a jazz festival thing in the Tivoli concerthall, Sonny played 45 minutes without a break, most memorable was in fact the bass solo in Sct Thomas, later several times in the Montmatre with Kenny Drew trio, incredible dynamics and swing, then there were less memorable events with strange combos, but always that dynamic

By: Steven

Steven — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 15:50:09 +0000

I saw Sonny (with Cranshaw on electric bass) and a fairly large ensemble at Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC thirty? years ago. He was a dynamo, the rest of the band was unmemorable.