Saxophone Colossus - The Life And Music Of Sonny Rollins

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I am still only in the early 50s and I think this book is going to get me to swear off of Jazz biographies. A lot of them really do a great job of knocking these artists off their pedestals. The last biography I read, Phil Woods' "Life In E Flat", ruined my opinion of Phil. Great player. Asshole human being.

Sonny Rollins in the early 50s was an asshole. Drugs. Jail. Stealing from friends and family. Then the story of him borrowing someone's alto sax with the guy watching from the front row so he was sure to get it back after the gig only to have Sonny sneak out the back door to hock it, was like... WTF? Not a nice person at all. I sure hope it sheds a better light on him as the years progress.

And another thing... Nat Hentoff was an asshole too! He's lucky he wrote his crap reviews back when it was only in print because if he tried that stuff today, he'd get his ass handed to him.  

I smiled when the author mentioned the tenor players that placed higher than Sonny in the 1952 & 1953 Metronome polls. In both years, organissimo drummer Randy Marsh's dad Arno Marsh beat out Sonny. I didn't know his dad was that well known back then.

[Big Beat Steve]

9 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I am still only in the early 50s and I think this book is going to get me to swear off of Jazz biographies. A lot of them really do a great job of knocking these artists off their pedestals. The last biography I read, Phil Woods' "Life In E Flat", ruined my opinion of Phil. Great player. Asshole human being.

...

 

It's not that bad a thing IMO for jazz (or other music styles') musicians biographies to be seen and read as accounts of how they actually were ("warts"'n'all) and not how some PR scribes would like to make them look after the fact (such blurbs were published more than often in earlier decades), and then everyone will be able to draw their own conclusions. 
People are as people are and even "stars" are only human in the end. 
The major debatable aspect is how the result will inevitably be the way that some readers will automatically resort to the "one excuse-fits-all" attitude of "you gotta separate the art from the person" with SOME artists whereas other artists will fare worse in the readers' eyes along the lines of "how can anyone listen to the music of that musician anymore without throwing up??" I.e. some will be cut way more slack than others. And somehow I have a hunch this is invariably dictated by how easily someone feels he will be able to do without the music of the moral offender (so he can still assure himself of his righteous attitude). 

A discussion like this has been rampant in the media here lately. There is a German film director (Wim Wenders) who is being taken to task by one of his earlier featured actresses (Nastassja Kinski) because in a film from 1975 he made her act in a scene where she was all nude, the bone of contention being that she was only 13 at the time (she portrayed a 17-year old in the movie). Understandable that for some years now she had wanted to have that scene removed or somehow "neutralized" (though in the years that followed in her career she was not above acting in nude scenes ever so often in subsequent films). Wenders reacted stupidly for a while so has only himself to blame for the line of fire he got himself into in the first place, but now gave in and announced he'd have the film withdrawn from circulation and marketing for the time being (don't know what rights exactly he has to exert that sort of control, though). But judging from the comments by paid columnists and in readers' forums he'd almost be in for eternal burning in hell. In short, another layer of retrospective "me too". Not too many steps away, judging by the tone of many who felt the urge to blurt out their protests, from demanding movie theaters to never show any Wenders movies again - early ones or all, who knows? Hardly anyone ever bothered asking what OTOH the responsibilties of Nastassja's parents (who must have okayed those scenes) and of the other actors and actresses and others involved in the production were in all this. And not many mentioned the fact that the 70s were just what they were  like in aspects like this too - for better (?) or worse. But a reflection of the times. 
Not always a good idea to totally disregard the period context before passing judgment in retrospect ...  

In short, such looks at the life of a prominent person are a coin that has MANY sides, and there is a point to being shown the person as that person was. As long as the end result of the showing remains balanced overall. 

Edited June 4 by Big Beat Steve

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I have no problem continuing to enjoy Sonny's music... or Phil Woods' music for that matter, or Mingus ("Beneath The Underdog") or Hampton Hawes ("Raise Up Off Me"). I know that musicians are human beings and that they all have their flaws. My "problem" here is my own naiveté regarding Sonny's early life. I was totally unaware of what he was like. I should not have been surprised.

There is only one musician whose music I find hard to listen to because of his character and that is Frank Rosolino. I find it hard not to think of what he did when I hear him play.

[Big Beat Steve]

I can understand that point about Frank Rosolino very well, but personally, tragic as it definitely is, I'd be prepared to cut him slightly more slack (in the light of the way he ended his life) than certain others when it comes to enjoying the (earlier) music anyway. What he did to his sons is impardonable, but he must have been a deeply troubled person for a much longer period than even those close to him seem to have imagined. Like a fellow musician remarked after his suicide (cannot recall his name right now, and this quote is not verbatim), "someone who cracks three jokes a minute all the time must have some really serious problems deep inside."

Not quite comparable to notorious abusers, rapists, mistreaters, cheaters, advantage takers of everyone else around, etc., many of whom received their share of adulation even after their not so desirable behavior must have been known not just to insiders. Nobody can advance mental incapacity for such behavior in ALL such cases. Weren't they just mean characters in the original sense of the word?

As for drug abusers, I figured Sonny Rollins' early history was well-known? Some manage to kick the habit better than others, and some drag others into it and ruin their lives in the process too, while some "just" run themselves into the ground. Difficult to generalize and to pass general judgments. 
 

Edited June 4 by Big Beat Steve

[Dan Gould]

I am really kind of staggered that a 13 year old could even be allowed to do a nude scene in a film, whatever age she is portraying. 

[Big Beat Steve]

Good question ... and this is one aspect that IMO complicates this problem when judgment is passed today. Regardless of how the movie director acted on the scene and whether he may have been a bit (or not just "a bit") too "bossy" (not unknown in these circles, I understand ) and regardless how permissive the 70s were overall, her participation as a minor must have been okayed by her parents. So what were THEY thinking?

(N.B. in case this is not so well known in the USA, her father was actor Klaus Kinski - the "bad man" of many German movies and theater stages of those times ...)

Edited June 4 by Big Beat Steve

[Big Beat Steve]

A minor remark regarding Kevin's earlier post: 

15 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I smiled when the author mentioned the tenor players that placed higher than Sonny in the 1952 & 1953 Metronome polls. In both years, organissimo drummer Randy Marsh's dad Arno Marsh beat out Sonny. I didn't know his dad was that well known back then.

I just re-read the "Saxophone Colossus" pages amd footnotes mentioning Arno Marsh, and then checked the respective issues of METRONOME that reported the poll results (luckily I happen to have these issues - they came from the estate of the former editor of the German JAZZ PODIUM magazine, BTW):

In 1952 Arno Marsh (12 votes, 21th place) finished a wee bit ahead of Sonny Rollins (10 votes, 22th).
In 1953 it was a draw: Arno Marsh and Sonny Rollins (13 votes each) tied for 16th place along with Georgie Auld and Allen Eager. 

The comparatively greater presence of Arno Marsh during that period may have been due to the exposure he gained with the Woody Herman Orchestra. 
 

[gmonahan]

8 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I have no problem continuing to enjoy Sonny's music... or Phil Woods' music for that matter, or Mingus ("Beneath The Underdog") or Hampton Hawes ("Raise Up Off Me"). I know that musicians are human beings and that they all have their flaws. My "problem" here is my own naiveté regarding Sonny's early life. I was totally unaware of what he was like. I should not have been surprised.

There is only one musician whose music I find hard to listen to because of his character and that is Frank Rosolino. I find it hard not to think of what he did when I hear him play.

As a former trombonist, I remember discovering Rosolino and being completely overwhelmed by his phenomenal technique. I loved his playing and, despite his terrible end, I still do. He obviously had demons that no one who knew him recognized, and in one dreadful moment, they took hold of him. No excuses for that. None. But they didn't rule him all the time. His playing is so incredibly joyful, and that joy is a kind of gift that I think deserves hearing and appreciating, despite the shadow cast by his last day.

[AllenLowe]

11 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I have no problem continuing to enjoy Sonny's music... or Phil Woods' music for that matter, or Mingus ("Beneath The Underdog") or Hampton Hawes ("Raise Up Off Me"). I know that musicians are human beings and that they all have their flaws. My "problem" here is my own naiveté regarding Sonny's early life. I was totally unaware of what he was like. I should not have been surprised.

There is only one musician whose music I find hard to listen to because of his character and that is Frank Rosolino. I find it hard not to think of what he did when I hear him play.

I have no problem avoiding Rosolino because I never liked his playing much anyway. Feels like all the same, emphasis, rhythm., inflection. A little too perfect, lacking nuance, the human touch. Compare it to Jimmy Knepper, who had a wonderful. slip/slide, slithery rhythmic thing going, plus he was far less predictable and harmonically way more interesting. 

[JSngry]

 

[ghost of miles]

11 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

I am really kind of staggered that a 13 year old could even be allowed to do a nude scene in a film, whatever age she is portraying. 

Forget it, Jake--it's the 1970s. 

[Dub Modal]

In one of Sonny's later interviews he mentions that he treated Monk terribly and that he hopes that Monk will forgive him at some point. It seems he had some deep periods of reflection on his life and hopefully he was able to make amends when/where possible. 

[mikeweil]

On 6/4/2026 at 2:30 PM, Dan Gould said:

I am really kind of staggered that a 13 year old could even be allowed to do a nude scene in a film, whatever age she is portraying. 

Besides it being the 70's with their carefree attitude towards nudity and sexuality, her father was Klaus Kinski, reputedly Germany's most eccentric actor, who tried to abuse his daughter Nastassia, and reportedly abused her elder stepsister Pola. Nastassia's mother seemed to be more concerned with her own career. Film director Wim Wenders finally withdrew the movie and stated he would not handle this situation like this today and apologized, but a final meting and decision between actress and director has not yet happened.

[Big Beat Steve]

1 hour ago, mikeweil said:

Besides it being the 70's with their carefree attitude towards nudity and sexuality, her father was Klaus Kinski, reputedly Germany's most eccentric actor, who tried to abuse his daughter Nastassia, and reportedly abused her elder stepsister Pola. Nastassia's mother seemed to be more concerned with her own career. Film director Wim Wenders finally withdrew the movie and stated he would not handle this situation like this today and apologized, but a final meting and decision between actress and director has not yet happened.

"Eccentric" is a mild word as you no doubt will agree ...

All of which only goes to show that all the outrage (clad in moral self-righteousness) of those commenting on this (be it paid scribes in the media or just online forumists, i.e.  a certain spectrum of the public at large) is way off the mark if these people judge all this only from today's vantage point and try to lobby for making things unhappen and rewriting history TODAY. This can become a slippery slope ...
A different matter of course is that the actress concerned (Nastassja Kinski) is quite entitled to demand "neutralization" or removal of the incriminated scene for the reasons personal to her. BTW, as you and I know, she has already reached a similar agreement with a TV chain with regard to a crime series episode made in 1977 where she had had a nude scene AGAIN - when she still was only 15. 

Edited June 7 by Big Beat Steve

[mikeweil]

Yes, a very slippery slope.