JSngry

Truthfully, I think/know(based on interviews), that he went into the 70s after having spent the 50s and 60s not being happy as a bandleader, everybody - as he felt it to be - wanting to do their thing instead of just supporting him so he could do his thing. People gonna say oh, well, there you have it, further witdrawal disinterest in engagment, etc. and sure, ok yeah. OTOH, it's vanity to the extreme, OTOH, it's his life and his playing, why would he embrace outside obstacles, just for "show"? Argue responisbility to art all day long, it might be right but its not relevant to what actually happened. So,the move towards familiar faces who knew what he wanted. Also falls in line with handing his business over to his wife and nephew, and the willingness to keep making records at Milestone - more self-containment, movement towards further realization of Perfect Sonny Rollins World - make enough money to not have to come out of the practice room anymore than absolutely necessary. I've bit very little doubt that if he could have found a way to live respectably/decently by just practicing all day every day, he would have. I don't think it at all coincidental that he's become more visible & gregarious in the public arena since his wife passed, and especially since he's been unable to play. It's one thing to withdraw when you got a support system running interference, it's quite another to be left alone with no other option than to be alone.

As a few of you know, I decided a few months ago to get back into playing original music on an ongoing basis. The result is a trio, Summusic, consisting of myself, Carl Hillman on bass, and Andrew Griffith on drums. We've been rehearsing bi-monthly since August. I've recorded almost everything on my cell phone, and have just posted a few takes on Soundcloud, which I'd like to share on a semi-ongoing basis. A few caveats/comments: These are rehearsals, not finished products. Roughness in performance and recording in abundantly present. Rehearsals of new materials and cellphone recordings, ok? Although live performances are part of the object of this game, a commercial recording probably isn't. So there probably never will be a "finished product" on any of this stuff, just perpetual works in progress. At this point, yeah, we're giving it away. Help yourself! Works in progress they are, I'm learning them almost as the band does. Not playing original/creative music for these last few years means, among other things, some things were written and then set aside w/o ever being played, or even better, written and taken straight to rehearsal. Our aim is to be an improvisational unit, to take the material as a starting point, not as an end unto itself. Don't want to be a "blowing" band, plenty of that already, more interested in improvising on themes and creating fluid yet definite structures. That's gonna take time, but time we got, at this point, anyway. Don't call it jazz. Not these days. Please. We're working on playing everything as a continuous set, an ongoing macro-composition. Consider these as initial looks at three of the individual "movements" of that macro-composition. There's more pieces than these, but these are the three recordings I've lived with long enough to share. Even though they're rough, early, and raw, I think they're rooted in the right place as group performances to take further. If there is objection on the grounds that hey, you can't just stop playing, walk away from it, actually come to distrust it, and come back again some years later and expect people to take you seriously, hey, I'm right there with you. But not doing this at this time just wasn't an option, and that's what I'm taking even more seriously than the self-doubt. Go figure. More to come to the Soundcloud site as things develop if/and I feel relevant enough to share. Hope that some of you like at least some of it. https://soundcloud.com/summusic-3

Cruise!

Livin' the dream!

Your Honor, I'll present this as evidence for both the prosecution and the defense: Yes, an old man playing over some sock puppets not really interacting with them at all, just free association with no concern for arc or anything. Basically an isolated old man rambling out loud, wherever the impulse takes him, he goes there and then stops when it does. Now the question is this - does what the delightful sane as hell insanity of where the inspiration leads him make up for the marking time that occurs when it doesn't? If it does, then hey, Sonny Rollins! And if it doesn't, well hey, Sonny Rollins. I would submit though, that what you get when you get it is something that you will not find anywhere else, so still - Sonny Rollins. What if anything that's gonna be worth to you, that's entirely up to you. And if it's not worth too much of anything, don't blame the rambling old man. He's more than happy this way. You gonna fuck with a happy old man?

The Knapp Comission Mattress Giant Ron Springs

What kind of licensing issues..legit(ish) or trumped up gentrification/leasemonger terrorism?

It's only thrilling mysterious daunting until it's not. That's when the real work begins, and that's where a lot of people decide to look elsewhere, for people who don't care to do that much work. Shared vs vicarious is very much a matter of an honest trade-off vs peeking in undetected and uninvolved. I'm no paragon of virtue in this regard, I have at different times done the work and at other times not wanted to do it, and haven't. I can tell you this, though - the more I do the work myself, the less I care about what somebody else is doing. Not enough time. Not that this is not just about "playing", it's about anything, really. Lost time not found, etc. Sonny Rollins "betrays" his art, or whatever from whoever. Fuck it then, move on. Plenty of other landing spots, tragedy not in Sonny's world if he's got his life working how he prefers it to work, tragedy (such as it is) in the mourners who keep knocking at the door waiting for somebody else to answer. You really want somebody else to answer, shit, that's easy - knock at somebody else's door. Not complicated. Just not complicated. Otherwise, it's still not any more complicated than anything else involving people making decisions for themselves that you don't like. Figure it out or...leave it alone. But jesus, don't just stand there ringing the doorbell waiting for somebody else to answer. That's kinda...pathetic?

Whoever it was that had their 19th nervous breakdown 20th Century Fox 21st Avenue Bicycles

I'm one of those guys that likes to keep a car until it pretty much drops, if it runs, let it be ugly. My wife would like a new car ever few years, but neither of us like paying for something we already have that does what we want it to do. So we do things like get scratches and other cosmetic things repaired on her car, and let mine be what time makes of it. Either way, we get to where we want to be, which as we grow older we are trying to narrow the gap between where we need to be and where we want to be. As a telecommuter, I'm doin' alright in that regard, thanks for asking. Now," car people" look at us with scorn and, occasionally abuse, because, you know, how can you drive THAT, better ride, better styling, better performance, FEATURES!, blahblahblah, and when I say anything at all to them, I tend to make it something along the lines of a polite-ish "drive your own damn car, bitch", something like that (because I use "bitch" in a non-gender specific manner, it's the way to go, trust me). Because, you know, drive your own damn car. Now, if I was always bitching and moaning about how I gotta drive this raggedyass car around all the time and all that, then ok, get another car bitch (directed towards myself). But I'm not, so when somebody suggest to me that I should be, or would be better off at least trying one, well, I'm not hearing that, because, what is life, anyway, an ongoing chance to be the perpetual target, make the bull's eye bigger and redder, please, tell me what I "need" to be doing? So I'm just saying, if a man (or woman) likes the car that he (or she) is driving, if they ain't complaining about it, why should I? Everybody drive their own damn car to wherever it is they going to.

Trey Piepmeier Robert Hamilton Butts Christina Retts

So, what kind of a car we drivin' with that bumper sticker on it?

Are we looking to cover a year here? Half year, quarter, what exactly? And what's the # to make it to each point?

And this is funny - I was out earlier today running errands and decided to stop at Barnes & Noble for a copy of this DB with this BFT in it...well..I found Wax Poetics, decided to get a copy of that, it's usually fun, saw a copy of Jazz Times with Jaime Cullem (whoever he is) on the cover and said...uh, ok, might as well, and then found the last copy of DB, turned to the back page (I still remember that much about them) and lo and be-hold, the BFTestee was Ron Carter!!!! So, not a difficult decision at all, but them all three back on the self and walked out empty handed. Feel like I dodge a bullet, really with that Jazz Times thing, I mean, that Jaime Cullen kid looked really dodgy. And Blondie was on the cover of WP, I mean,,,I read all the Blondie shit I needed to read in Trouser Press back in the day, and I don't care what Ron Carter has to say about Sam Jones, I already know what I think about Sam Jones, so all in all, money saved to be better, or at least different, spent elsewhere.

Well, see, that's a fan's perspective, a consumer's wish/demands list. Make mine ART dammit, or don't make it at all. Just my opinion, but it seems to me that in Perfect Sonny Rollins World, every day would be wake up, eat, exercise, practice all day, maybe eat again, practice some more, then call it a day, unwind a little, and then go to bed. Everything else would just be a distraction form that. I don't get the impression that Sonny Rollins lives to be The Perpetual Artist Of Our Time, or The Perpetual Macro-Curious Cat, or anything "art"-y like that. I think he just lives to get up in the morning and practice all day. When gigs come, do them, and then get pack home to practice some more. But what is the real "art" of Sonny Rollins? To keep playing that saxophone in the way he feels the need to play it. Everything else is just business. The real "art" here would be, how much of the time would Sonny Rollins be able to inhabit Perfect Sonny Rollins World, and I'd say he's done about as good a job under the circumstances as possible as anybody. This whole angsty thing about Sonny Rollins failing his art and all that, that's funny, really, because in this paradigm, the "artist" is at once supposed to care only about their "art", in which case, why should they give a flying fuck what anybody thinks other than themselves, and yet feel wounded into shame or some such when the "art lovers" get to feeling betrayed and shit. Like, ok, what's it gonna be - artist serves own needs or artist serves fanbase needs? Sure sounds like the negotiating of commerce to me! I would challenge any/all people, fans or otherwise - be your own damn artist, first and foremost. Don't be dependent on somebody else to give it to you, because somebody else might not always give two shits what you want, at least not in all things at all times at any given moment. So handle that part of it yourself. And I can see for miles and miles, so if I let the ashes keep burning, it won't be because the park ranger didn't see the fire!.

Don't know if I give credence to the model that what's good for an individual as a person is ultimately less important than what is important for the industry in which they labor. I tend to see it as an art form. Well. ok. but an "art form" that entertains the wants of its consumers as well as its creators is a business, and a business that is about getting product to market eventually becomes an industry. So, if Sonny Rollins has failed to provide you with what you want/need, he has failed his industry, even though he might have served his own personal wants and needs just fine. I don't expect anybody to listen trough all the 40+ years of brilliances and thudbooms of misses and "worship". But hostility on the grounds that the man had a faulty personal agenda/business plan, that if he HAD done XYZ then everything would have been allright, that's supremely industrial in it evaluation. Sonny "failed" because he didn't have the right parts installed, something like that, like the only thing that effects a player is who's on the stand that night or in the studio that afternoon, just show up and execute. Get that model SR back into R&D and don't come out until all the glitches and bugs have been removed. Sorry, just not feeling that. If the guy wanted to play with David S. Ware, he would have. As it is, didn't they practice together for a while? That's where you'd really learn, one on one practice sessions. The whole "record/concert=reality" thing, that's basically industry glimmer to get in you eyes when the smoke clears. Now, sure, ther are plenty of peole who WANT to fo it like that, but not everybody does. One size does not fit all.

Don't know if I give credence to the model that what's good for an individual as a person is ultimately less important than what is important for the industry in which they labor.

Contribution made.

Not even "great", but it's my duty to let its existence be known so interested parties can decide for themselves. It's got Lee Konitz on it too!

Dude - I saw that show in real time, VCR-ed it, and have damn near worn the tape out on that one clip. The show itself, first view, had a weird arc, there was all this anticipation for me, because Sonny was never one to do a lot of TV, but when he did,like on that Dizzy Tribute show, or the first DB Awards show on Soundstage, it was of memorable proportions. This one, the first cut was as a guest with the house band and as co-frontliner with Dave Sanborn (to whom much props, jsut because). The clip's on YT somewhre I think, but no matter. Sonny was definitely in "teaser" mode, tantalizing moments followed by, oh, yeah, right, this is tv bits, nback and forth like that. So...frustration. And the...what they don't show you on that clip is that immediately prior to the live performance, they did like they did on Night Music and came back from a commerical break with a "vintage" clip, this of sonny playing "God Bless The Child" with Jim Hall from whatever show that was on...that's the relevance of Sonny's brief GBTC quote in the live performance. Anyway, the effect was electrifying, like, WHOA! then and now, from tux and shit to THIS...and then he started playing...oh my god, has anybody ever filled a horn up with as much air as Sonny Rollins? I don't think so...people might have played with wider (hello, Gene Ammons) and/or louder sounds (hello Albert Ayler), but that's not what I mean...maybe you have to be a tenorist to really feel it, or maybe not, but GOODGOD , that's a F**KING LOT of air going through that horn to get that sound. So I'm thinking that this is going to be an extended sonny Solo segment, but no, what;''s this, Leornard Cohen? LEONARD COHEN? With SONNY ROLLINS? AT THE SAME TIME? WTF? How is this not going to be weird...and then Sweet Pea Atkinson is back there doing his thing, and ok, we are hitting a groove here, but...Sonny? And then, then Sonny just steps up and delivers. No teasers here, he's in there, pop going the weasel, yes, but unfiltered harmonic moves and willful effortless rhythmaning and yes, SO MUCH AIR IN THAT HORN. Ok, I'm getting goosebumpy and could have been content there, but then the little cadenza at the end, EVEN MORE AIR (how much air is there, anyway?) and that last slide down to the in-the-leg low (tenor) A, in the leg becuase that's the only way to get it out of the instrument, and again, effortlessly and perfectly and SO MUCH AIR, you shouldn't be able to hit that note with that much air and nail it that perfectly, and then, the last note...jesus christ, what have I just heard, I mean, really, what have I just heard here, from start to finish? and then Sonny looks at Leonard and gives him that little grinny head nod that says, ok mortals, we've had a good time together, haven't we, you know a lot, but there's always more, trust me, there's always more, but yes, that was fun, wasn't it! More fun than playing with the Stones, for sure! And then...nowhere near as intense as this, but there's the George Braith side where Sonny plays keys, just the keys of the saxophone. Pops the keys to play his solo. No air, just key-popping. Every note clearly defined too, which is not exactly a virtuoso move, more like a foundational one, like yeah, I know this instrument so well that I can play it without blowing it (Pharoah does this too, btw, although he incorporates it into the "show", Sonny, Ithink was just out in Braith's club and decided for whatever reason to do this...I wonder if he knew tape was running?). Not exactly "essential" but just goes to show you, Sonny knows the instrument about as well as anybody who has ever played it. Anybody. But that Night Music clip...geez, I get goose-bumpy all over again just typing about it. Exactly. Point just being that the act of "withdrawal" is not in and of itself anything other than just that, there's no intrinsic, predictable purely musical implication in or effect of so doing. Yeah, that's a new one on me too. Where was THAT jukebox, eh?

But - you never saw a Duke Ellington Blindfold Test (at least not that I know of). When left to his own devices, Duke Ellington was not Alan Douglas or Bob Theile. Duke Ellington had neither time nor need to be Alan Douglas or Bob Thiele, being Duke Ellington was a full-time gig in itself, right? And, Clark Terry joined the band in 1951..hardly a young punk even then! But all of that aside - if you want to compare the jazz reality of Ellington's "later" years to those of Sonny's "later" years, let's line everybody up in a cemetery and see how much overlap there is. And then let's look at who's working where, how often, for how much, and with what kind of bands. Apples and oranges. Yeah, somebody who willingly sealed themselves off, so to speak, from anything past a certain evolutionary point in order to do whatever it was they had to do. Granted, Wilber's starting point came from all kinds of "outside" his own chronology, but it wasn't meant to go that far to make THAT point. It was just to say that everybody has the right to call it quits on where there "there" is, that that's not any kind of a "fault" in and of itself.

Dude - that's a basic human right, ok? Two words - Bob Wilber. Two more words - Sonny Rollins. Three Little Words:

Oh hellfukingodddamn no. No. The point of these damn things is to sell magazines and for musicians to get face time. The notion that anybody goes into these things to "learn" is...laughable. Look - Sonny's old, widowed, and for the last year, more or less musically incapacitated. He's a great figure in this music, and a bit of a personal idol to me - which is why all the, by any objective standard - extreme inconsistencies of his commercial output do not bother me (that, and the fact that the inconsistencies are anything but a Sonny Stitt-ish Autopilot being turned up or down to varying degrees). I'm glad that Bret Primak and whoever else is getting him out in public like this is doing so, it seems to be a level of engagement that he both needs and welcomes during this period of his life. But geez, be happy that he's happy and end it there. Anything past that is just weird.

Or we could look at Ellington who rode all his horses until they all dies, horse and riders alike. It can go both ways, and what is important (to me) is not which way it goes, but why is it going there. There are those who are genuinely disturbed by what they percieve a Rollins' reasons. I'm not one of them, I figured the man figured out what he had to do to be who he wanted to be, and that was that, none of my business. Usually, I can easily dismiss that, but Sonny Rollins, I think most of us would agree, is not just a Very Good Jazz Player, the man knows like few others have known. So I get it that the glimpses of that knowledge have been deemed by its possessor to be an entirely discretion, at times, fleeting, and at even more times unrecorded for commercial consumption quantity frustrates some, infuriates other, and spurs an appreciation of the image than the reality in many/most more. I get taht, but, again, to me...not bothering me. People want warm/fuzzy, hey, go sit on Santa's lap, with or without the suit on. Sonny Rollins ain't here to be no Santa Claus, even now. Let's not anybody be confused about that.