We 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.
I 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.
I saw Sonny Rollins at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2005. I had written a paper that was accepted at a conference, and thing realized the festival was going on at the same time. Unfortunately I learned this very late. Pat Metheny was the featured artist that year, and I'm a big fan, but all the tickets for him were sold out. I checked the lineup and realized Rollins was playing and snagged a couple of tickets for him instead. Honestly, I admit I mainly went to see him because I wasn't sure how much longer he would be playing.
I especially remember that he played "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" - my wife and I still talk about it.
Maybe not the most flattering story about Sonny Rollins but, it was funny and one of the more notable storires told to us at Hartt by Jackie McLean: Jackie was coming home to NYC early AM with Sonny in Sonny's car - I forget the model, but it was referred to as "The Blue Demon" in this story. As they're getting close to the city, maybe crossing the GW, Sonny asks Jackie, "who is better, me or Trane?" Jackie feeling very put on the spot starts trying to find a way out without hurting Sonny's feelings says something like, "Aw man, it's not like that. You can't compare you guys.". At this point Sonny abruptly stops the car and says, "Get out." Jackie had to find the rest of his way home. Maybe KD in DB can corroborate, pretty sure he's on here too.
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[ 0.25 ms ] story [ 24.8 ms ] threadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Parry
He thought to himself, “finally, a Rolling Stones song that I like.”
Then he remembered he was the saxophone player on the song…
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.
I especially remember that he played "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" - my wife and I still talk about it.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Great_Day_in_Harlem
Documentary:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vao3d_QNnA