happy birthday sonny

[mfox]

sonny is 75 years old..
just about my favorite player, just because of the variety in his repertoire.. hes awesome live too..

 

[Rogerb]

Excuse my ignorance....Sonny who?

 

[Bobby G]

I would think the amazing Mr. Rollins, although giving has age as 75 put me off a bit, he's been playing forever! And long may he continue to do so.

Cheers, Bob

 

[Linky Lee]

Sonny is a great player. I really enjoyed some of the tracks he's played on.

Though he's not my favorite player I still rate him very highly.

There are a few sonny sax players actually. Food for thought there.

 

[Bobby G]

Right, Linky, there's Sonny Stitt as well, who did an album with Sonny Rollins under the leadership of Dizzy Gillespie called, ahem, Sonny Side Of The Street. There's some great playing all round, and Dizzy's vocal on the title track cracks me up. There's also a fine, long, slowish blues, great to play along with.

I feel any more Sonnys should have their own thread as this one strictly speaking is Rollins's birthday salute.

Cheers, Bob

 

[Rogerb]

Of course I have heard of Sonny Rollins but don't think he's quite attained the level of 'universal fame' where we can just say "Sonny"... as you could with, say, Elvis, Cher, etc... and have just about *everybody* know who we mean 🙂

As LL says, there are others... there aren't too many Chers, or (genuine) Elvises.... E Costello notwithstanding!

Happy 75th, anyway, Sonny 😀

 

[Bobby G]

Ah, but Cher works the other way Roger - not many may know who you meant if you wished Cherilyn Sarkasian a happy birthday 😉 or maybe Declan MacManus

Cheers, Bob

 

[mr__myles]

Sonny Rollins is a great player, easily one of my favourite.

 

[mfox]

rogerb.. i have many cher's.. i've got 4 around my dining table that i know of..

 

[Bobby G]

mfox wrote:
rogerb.. i have many cher's.. i've got 4 around my dining table that i know of..

That's 3 more than you need mfox.

Three Chers for Sonny!!

 

[Rogerb]

mfox wrote:
rogerb.. i have many cher's.. i've got 4 around my dining table that i know of..

I had to check there, to see if you are in Liverpool!

 

[rhysonsax]

Sonny Rollins is my favourite sax player and favourite jazz musician - I've seen him live several times and watched a few films about him.

Like many of his fans, I particularly love his playing in the mid to late 1950s when his sound and invention were at their peak (subjective opinion I know, but listen to Saxophone Collosus, Live at the Village Vanguard, Live in Sweden and others).

Walter Theodore (Sonny) Rollins was born on 7th September 1930 (I've checked several biographies and websites). So he's now 76 and a bit. He changed the order of his forenames to Theodore Walter to get around problems obtaining working papers because he'd been in trouble with the law.

One of his nicknames was "Newk", apparently because of a physical resemblance to the Brooklyn Dodgers' pitcher Don Newcombe.

The album with Dizzy Gillespie was "Sonny Side Up" and it featured three superb tracks as well as "On the Sunny Side of the Street". Great playing from Ray Bryant on piano (one of my favourite pianists in the bluesy vein), especially on "After Hours" by Avery Parrish. I've got Sonny R's and Sonny S's solos transcribed for this track and for "The Eternal Triangle" and they are jaw dropping !

Maybe it's because BBC Radio 3 repeated their "Jazz Legends" programme on Sonny Rollins yesterday afternoon that people might think he'd just had a birthday.

Sonny Redd and Sonny Criss are two other jazz players I can think of, both sax plyers.

Rhys

 

[Pete Thomas]

Let's not forget Tenor Madness, he gives Coltrane a real run for his money

 

[Bobby G]

Apologies there, when I said Sonny Side of the Street I meant Sonny Side Up Comes from having all my CD's in wallets in the car...

It's still a good album, though!

Cheers, Bob

 

[peter_fitton]

Pete Thomas wrote:
Let's not forget Tenor Madness, he gives Coltrane a real run for his money

I love the Tenor Madness album but something about it always puzzles me: shouldn't Claude Debussy get at least a co-writers credit for My Reverie?

Peter

 

[mfox]

he did do sonny side of the street too.. with a dizzy vocal..

have you heard the same song from a little earlier with Charlie Parker singing it with dizzy? that is one great record..

 

[Bobby G]

mfox wrote:
he did do sonny side of the street too.. with a dizzy vocal..

Yup, love it!

have you heard the same song from a little earlier with Charlie Parker singing it with dizzy? that is one great record..

I've never heard of this version, is it still available?

Cheers, Bob

 

[mfox]

dunno i have it on a compilation..bought of the market of all places for a quid..

 

[Bobby G]

Those market stalls sometimes yield some real cheap goodies. Walthamstow market in NE London has a good stall for old reggae and ska particularly (Roots'n'Toots is a fine example of a cheap comp), but for most other things too. Plus Manze's pie&mash shop is just up the road. That's round your manor isn't it Dylan?

Cheers, Bob

 

[Dylan]

That's right Bob. Only 5 mins walk from where I'm sitting now . Market still going strong, as are music stalls on it. There is a bit more rap etc these days, but still some reggie wafting around in the melange of multicultural experiences that is E17.

And the smell of pie and mash and jellied eels of course 😉

D