Bright Moments Posted March 15, 2006 Report Posted March 15, 2006 (edited) I saw Sonny Rollins tonight!!!! Sonny played to a sold out house at Gusman Hall in downtown Miami. He played with his longtime bassist Bob Cranshaw, nephew/trombonist Clifton Anderson, drummer Victor Lewis and guitarist Bobby Broom. A fantastic show, 75 year old Sonny played nonstop for an hour and a half and then a 20 minute encore (Billie's Bounce)! An amazing night! Edited March 15, 2006 by Bright Moments Quote
danasgoodstuff Posted March 15, 2006 Report Posted March 15, 2006 (edited) Thanks for the encouraging report. "Billies Bounce" as an encore is unusual unless Sonny's changed his habits, what was the tempo like on that? Set list? Edited March 15, 2006 by danasgoodstuff Quote
Bright Moments Posted March 15, 2006 Author Report Posted March 15, 2006 (edited) he played global warming from the 9/11 concert album and a standard whose name i forget (the one i confuse with someone to watch over me because of the opening bars) and one called (i think) Naisha. he played a few bars of st. thomas as a tease. the other numbers were ones that i did not recognize but thoroughly enjoyed. the tempo on billie's bounce was swinging and in parts was REAL fast! Edited March 15, 2006 by Bright Moments Quote
JSngry Posted March 15, 2006 Report Posted March 15, 2006 ...a standard whose name i forget (the one i confuse with someone to watch over me because of the opening bars)... "My One & Only Love"? Quote
DukeCity Posted March 15, 2006 Report Posted March 15, 2006 ...a standard whose name i forget (the one i confuse with someone to watch over me because of the opening bars)... "My One & Only Love"? "Polkadots and Moonbeams"? Quote
JSngry Posted March 15, 2006 Report Posted March 15, 2006 ...a standard whose name i forget (the one i confuse with someone to watch over me because of the opening bars)... "My One & Only Love"? "Polkadots and Moonbeams"? That would have been my second choice, but Sonny's played "My One & Only Love" quite a bit over the years, iirc. Quote
Roundsound Posted March 15, 2006 Report Posted March 15, 2006 I've seen Sonny 3 times. The last time he was also at Gusman, an old time facility, where Miami Ballet has often appeared. Anyhow, this was easily the best I've seen of him. I was thinking I've never seen an instrument played so great. Tremendous improvisations, then he comes to a melody fragment and then improvises on that. The difference maker was Victor Lewis. He was making the other soloists more interesting by constantly changing pulse, while keeping the beat. He is a tremendous maistro and should be spoken of in the same breath as any of the supreme jazz drummers. He received the key to the city before the concert. He told the audience the name of one of the standards played. I forget the name, but it seemed to me a more obscure tune. I thought the encore was Tenor Madness. I've been wrong before. The tune before the encore was a bop influenced blues authored by one of the band members, but it was a burner. But back to Sonny- People leaving the concert couldn't believe it and rightly so. Just tremendous!!! Quote
Bright Moments Posted March 15, 2006 Author Report Posted March 15, 2006 the standard that i couldn't remember was "in a sentimental mood" and he also did "they say it's wonderful." the encore was "billie's bounce" and it was SMOKIN'! Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted March 16, 2006 Report Posted March 16, 2006 (edited) ...a standard whose name i forget (the one i confuse with someone to watch over me because of the opening bars)... "My One & Only Love"? "Polkadots and Moonbeams"? That would have been my second choice, but Sonny's played "My One & Only Love" quite a bit over the years, iirc. In a Sentimental Mood? Another pentatonic-y one he likes to play. Edit: Oops. Should have read to the bottom! Edited March 16, 2006 by Red Quote
Roundsound Posted March 17, 2006 Report Posted March 17, 2006 I was thinking whether a financially successful performer such as Sonny Rollins would want to record his shows ala the Grateful Dead and sell CDs or downloading on the web. I would think that such an operation would be financially successful and would document Sonny's improvisations and genius. I would think just about the entite audience at the Miami show would shell out $20 or so for such a recording. Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted March 17, 2006 Report Posted March 17, 2006 Joe and I saw Victor Lewis with the Stryker/Slagel band in NYC last October. He's playing better than ever. Sounds like a killer band! Quote
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