Sonny Rollins

**Winner of the American Book Award (2023)** ​**Longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award (2023)** The long-awaited first full biography of legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins Sonny Rollins has long been considered an enigma. Known as the “Saxophone Colossus,” he is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz improvisers of all time, winning Grammys, the Austrian Cross of Honor, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize and a National Medal of Arts. A bridge from bebop to the avant-garde, he is a lasting link to the golden age of jazz, pictured in the iconic “Great Day in Harlem” portrait. His seven-decade career has been well documented, but the backstage life of the man once called “the only jazz recluse” has gone largely untold—until now. Based on more than 200 interviews with Rollins himself, family members, friends, and collaborators, as well as Rollins’ extensive personal archive, Saxophone Colossus is the comprehensive portrait of this legendary saxophonist and composer, civil rights activist and environmentalist. A child of the Harlem Renaissance, Rollins’ precocious talent landed him on the bandstand and in the recording studio with Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, or playing opposite Billie Holiday. An icon in his own right, he recorded Tenor Madness, featuring John Coltrane; Way Out West; Freedom Suite, the first civil rights-themed album of the hard bop era; A Night at the Village Vanguard; and the 1956 classic Saxophone Colossus. Yet his meteoric rise to fame was not without its challenges. He served two sentences on Rikers Island and won his battle with heroin addiction. In 1959, Rollins took a two-year sabbatical from recording and performing, practicing up to 16 hours a day on the Williamsburg Bridge. In 1968, he left again to study at an ashram in India. He returned to performing from 1971 until his retirement in 2012. The story of Sonny Rollins—innovative, unpredictable, larger than life—is the story of jazz itself, and Sonny’s own narrative is as timeless and timely as the art form he represents. Part jazz oral history told in the musicians’ own words, part chronicle of one man’s quest for social justice and spiritual enlightenment, this is the definitive biography of one of the most enduring and influential artists in jazz and American history.

Jazz legend Sonny Rollins will celebrate his 80th birthday this fall, and Saxophone Colossus will be published to mark this occasion and honor his incredibly prolific career. This intimate appreciation combines the images of John Abbott, who as Rollins's photographer of choice for the past 20 years has captured the saxophonist at home and at work, and the essays of Bob Blumenthal, a jazz critic who has chronicled Rollins and his art for nearly four decades. Sonny Rollins has been at the center of jazz and its evolution virtually from his birth. Growing up in Harlem in the heyday of swing and coming of age as the first wave of modernists announced their discoveries, he quickly found himself sharing bandstands with his idols and making music of his own that continues to influence and inspire. Saxophone Colossus, named for the 1956 masterpiece of the same title, is Abbott and Blumenthal's tribute to Rollins's music and spirit.

Sonny Rollins is arguably the most influential tenor saxophonist that jazz has produced. He began his musical career at the tender age of eleven, and within five short years he was playing with the legendary Thelonius Monk. In the late forties (before his twenty-first birthday), Rollins was in full swing, recording with jazz luminaries such as Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, and Fats Navarro. He was hailed as the best jazz tenor saxophonist alive during the years 1955 to 1959, when he was credited with pioneering the use of 3/4-time in bop music.Today, forty years later, Rollins's onstage appearances are eagerly anticipated events, where his compelling sound reaches a whole new generation of listeners. Renowned jazz writer Eric Nisenson has penned a long-overdue look at one of jazz music's brightest and most enduring stars.

One of the world's great tenor saxophonists, Sonny Rollins has always been committed to the fundamental truths of jazz, especially swing. He has managed to be consistently experimental and forward-looking, and he has recorded at least a dozen essential albums. Here, Richard Palmer charts Rollins's career in full.

This groovy, bebopping picture book biography chronicles the legendary jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins's search for inspiration on the Williamsburg Bridge after quitting the jazz scene in 1959. Rollins is one of the most prolific sax players in the history of jazz, but, in 1959, at the height of his career, he vanished from the jazz scene. His return to music was an interesting journey--with a long detour on the Williamsburg Bridge. Too loud to practice in his apartment, Rollins played on the New York City landmark for two years among the cacophony of traffic and the stares of bystanders, leading to the release of his album, The Bridge. Written in rhythmic prose with a bebop edge, this picture-book biography of Sonny Rollins's journey to get his groove back will delight young and old fans alike.

(Jazz Transcriptions). The Sonny Rollins Omnibook celebrates the bebop legend that worked with Miles, Monk, MJQ, and many others. His solo work has earned him many accolades, including Grammy Awards, election into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an Edward MacDowell Medal, and the Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama. This collection features 50 of his best, including: Airegin * All the Things You Are * Almost like Being in Love * Bouncing with Bud * Doxy * Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye * I'll Remember April * Just in Time * Namely You * Oleo * On a Slow Boat to China * St. Thomas * Solid * Sonnymoon for Two * Vierd Blues * Woodyn' You * and more.

(Jazz Play Along). For use with all Bb, Eb, and C instruments, the Jazz Play-Along series is the ultimate learning tool for all jazz musicians. With musician-friendly lead sheets, melody cues, and audio, this first-of-its-kind package makes learning to play jazz easier than ever before. For study, each tune includes audio with: * Melody cue with proper style and inflection * Professional rhythm tracks * Choruses for soloing * Removable bass part * Removable piano part. For perofrmance, each tune also has: * An additional full stereo accompaniment track (no melody) * Additional choruses for soloing. This volume includes: Airegin * Alfie's Theme * Biji * The Bridge * Doxy * First Moves * Here's to the People * Oleo * St. Thomas * Sonnymoon for Two.

James Ransome's glorious art celebrates jazz icon Sonny Rollins and how he found an inspired spot to practice his saxophone when his neighbors complained. Sonny Rollins loved his saxophone. As a teenager, he was already playing with jazz stars and making a name for himself. But in 1959, at age twenty-nine, he took a break from performing—to work on being a better, not just famous, musician. Practicing in a city apartment didn’t please the neighbors, so Sonny found a surprising alternative—the Williamsburg Bridge. There, with his head in the clouds and foghorns for company, Sonny could play to his heart’s content and perfect his craft. It was a bold choice, for a bold young man and musician. Sonny’s passion for music comes alive in jazzy text and vivid, evocative paintings of New York City. His story celebrates striving to be your very best self, an inspiration to music lovers young and old.