There was a great interview tonight on the PBS News Hour with 81 year old Jazz Sax player Sonny Rollins (here). On Sunday, he will be recognized at the 34th Kennedy Centers Honors ceremony in Washington, DC. In the regular interview, Sonny Rollins said that he was (1) an unschooled primitive player, (2) not yet satisfied with his playing, that's why he keeps at it, (3) when he performs, he trys to empty his mind so that improvisations can "pop out" in surprising ways, (4) jazz is a medium that can absorb all the other idioms, and (5) I may be the last jazz player of an era but my music will live on.
In the extended interview (above) he talks about his relationship with other Jazz greats, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, etc. Interestingly, he commented that the reason Miles Davis turned his back to audiences when he played was that he was shy.
In the clip above, Sonny Rollins is on tenor sax, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Yoshiaki Masuo on guitar playing Alfie's Theme from 1974. I particular like that he had a guitarist in the group!
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