Saxophone legend Sonny Rollins was one of five 2011 Kennedy Center honorees, alongside actress Meryl Streep, singer Barbara Cook, singer/songwriter Neil Diamond and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Rollins said of the honor, "I am deeply appreciative of this great honor. In honoring me, the Kennedy Center honors jazz, America's classical music. For that, I am very grateful."
Former President Bill Clinton gave the toast saluting Rollins, in which he said:
"It was unbelievable, and it still is. Decade after decade after decade, this man explores the far reaches of the possibilities of what has lovingly been called the devil's horn. His music can bend your mind, it can break your heart, and it can make you laugh out loud. Still today after all these years, if I wake up in kind of a bad humor, or I'm worried about something, if I put on Sonny Rollins' version of 'Brown Skin Girl,' I will laugh out loud.
I have thought so much about his unique gifts. He has done things with improvisation that really no one has ever done. In complexity and creativity, he rivals Coltrane."
Hard Bop And a Kennedy Center Honor – Sonny Rollins’ A Night At The Village Vanguard
I played trumpet for a minute in grade school, but got bored with only learning marching band type stuff… They never played Miles, Bix or Dizzy…
I switched to clarinet because my Dad owned one… I think I had a fleeting dream of mastering that instrument so I could move to the tenor sax.
I sucked… Seriously. I love it but really need to play every day…
Sonny Rollins – A Night at the Village Vanguard
Thanks to Patrick for the reminder that Sonny was on the Kennedy Center Honors tonight…
I have had the pleasure of seeing Sonny Rollins several times… at the old Jazz Bakery doing the standards… at UCLA’s Royce Hall doing some calypso and some fusion from his 20th album, Global Warming. The man is amazing.
Does drug use enhance the music, the creative process or does it limit it. Sonny Rollins would say hell no.
He was arrested for armed robbery in 1950 and spent 10 months on Rikers Island. The creative output would sky-rocket.
In 1953 he was playing with the Modern Jazz Quartet and Monk. In 1954 he would play in a quintet with Miles. Scott Yanow from AllMusic says ”This CD is often magical. Sonny Rollins, one of jazz’s great tenors, is heard at his peak… Amazing.
Sonny Rollins is one of those magical artists… a musician who goes beyond, who transcends…
I’ve got Sonny Rollins.
