sonny rollins: the definitive musical guide

[skeith]

I saw it in paperback. the author is P. N. Wilson. written 2001 and appears to deal with just the music.

anyone read it and have comments?

It looks very good from a brief flip through the pages.

why haven't I seen this before.

[Free For All]

I think I have this somewhere, can't put my hands on it at the moment. If I remember correctly, it was mostly a discography with some commentary thrown in. Nothing earthshaking, but if you're a Rollins freak (as I am) you'll enjoy it.

If anyone has any different recollection of this, I'd be interested to hear it.

[skeith]

well FFA it looked like more than a discographry to me. Each album has at least several pages of commentary and I consider a discographry to be merely a list of all of the artist's albums.

also while the number of albums discussed is substantial, I am not sure each one is discussed.

[JohnS]

Short boigraphy and analysis of his playing takes up the first third of the book. The remainder is the discography/review section. Recommended

[JSngry]

If it's what I think it is, I browsed it in the store and put it back. If you're a serious Rollins fan, I don't think it tells you anything you don't already know. But if you're not, I suppose it might be useful, although I seem to remembering that the author liked the Milestones that I really disliked, and vice-versa. But that's such a twisted body of work that finding a "general consensus" on specific albums is probably all but impossible.

[John L]

My definitive guide to Sonny Rollins is on several threads right here at Organissimo!

[Dmitry]

Has anyone seen this book - THE ENDLESS CALYPSO [sonny Rollins' Later Years] ?

[MartyJazz]

If it's what I think it is, I browsed it in the store and put it back. If you're a serious Rollins fan, I don't think it tells you anything you don't already know. But if you're not, I suppose it might be useful, although I seem to remembering that the author liked the Milestones that I really disliked, and vice-versa. But that's such a twisted body of work that finding a "general consensus" on specific albums is probably all but impossible.

I have the book and was unimpressed. A devout "newkophile" for many years, I was quite surprised at the number of excellent recordings he either did not think as highly of or he downgraded in importance, while apparently preferring certain sessions that IMO did not deserve the exalted status he gave them. For example, I recall that he didn't think much of the ALFIE soundtrack album (Impulse, 1966) while very much enthusiastic about the LIVE IN JAPAN (JVC, 1972 or 73). For me, ALFIE is a desert island disc while LIVE IN JAPAN's chief virtue is a wonderful photo of Sonny on the cover (LP, of course).