Death is always a shock. Even when it is as inevitable as rain. But the saxophone colossus is no more waking up this morning to the news of Sonny Rollins’ death at the age of 95 shouldn’t have been one. But of course it is. I tried to collect my thoughts. This site dosn’t run obituaries. Because personally I hate writing them and always have. And this isn’t one at all. So what do I think? Well of course first of all I think of hearing Sonny Rollins live. I think I saw him 3 times live: the first at a theatre show – it was Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in the 1990s. And then it was more recently a couple of times at the Barbican also in London.
He stopped playing quite a few years ago. I was thinking what should I listen to later. One for Newk? The tributes started a long time ago in his lifetime! But his sound with its Caribbean lilt, feverish bebop ferocity to it and that gorgeous tenor saxophone tone is playing even with no records on. Well, there will be a lot of listening in his wake and not just today in his memory. Like Miles Davis whose centenary it is and John Coltrane and Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday and so many others, Rollins’ music is a staple like sounds you need to hear most days and even if you don’t they live in your head regardless. The carnival will never stop given the riches of what Newk left behind for the sake of all humanity.
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