You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Sonny Rollins (1930-2026)

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

Sonny Rollins passed away this week at 95. Jazz pianists Peter and Adam are listening through the recordings that defined his career and made him one of the most influential musicians in jazz history. From his earliest bebop tunes to Saxophone Colossus to A Night at the Village Vanguard, they trace the arc of a player who kept raising the bar on himself even when the rest of the world thought he'd already cleared it. Plus - they talk through the legendary Williamsburg Bridge sabbatical: two years of practicing up to 16 hours a day.------------------------------About You'll Hear It:In this popular music series, Adam and Peter break down the greatest albums of all time. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, D'Angelo: Jazz is the foundation of the most GENIUS music in recent history. These seasoned jazz pianists bring their deep musical knowledge to every joyful episode to help you hear the hidden qualities that make music AMAZING. You'll never hear music the same way again.00:00 Sonny Rollins (1930-2026)00:37 Celebrating Sonny Rollins: Opening Tribute04:54 Sonny as the Bridge Between Bebop Generations05:57 "Autobahn" 09:47 "Pent-Up House" 12:56 "I'll Remember April" 16:10 "Oleo" 17:32 "Tenor Madness" 19:32 "More Than You Know" 21:19 "The Way You Look Tonight" 22:51 "Bemsha Swing" with Clark Terry24:00 Is Sonny Rollins the Most Influential Tenor Saxophone Player of All Time?28:01 "St. Thomas" from Saxophone Colossus34:40 "I'm an Old Cowhand" from Way Out West36:14 "A Night at the Village Vanguard" (Afternoon Set)39:00 "Wonderful! Wonderful!" 40:50 The Williamsburg Bridge Sabbatical44:04 "Without a Song" 46:29 Later Career: 1970s - 201249:13 "Blue Seven"

I'm out of menace. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to The You'll Hear It Podcast. Music celebrated and explored. Celebrating today, Peter, that's a great adjective, because we are celebrating the great Sunny Rollins today. Yes. When we lost just a couple of days ago at the age of 95.

And Peter, I'm so excited to spend this time with you, to spend this time with our dear listeners. Yeah. Listening to and celebrating one of the great musicians in jazz. And I love Sonny Roll. and his music and incredible, incredible musician, but incredible human being as well, as we'll hear. I mean, one of the most, as far as I can tell,

one of the most honest and direct musicians, improvisers, jazz musician, or probably of any type, you know, when we talk about great jazz musicians that could improvise, there's a potential for a directness and a connection between that performers, that artist's humanity as a person, that can then come out, in this case, from Sonny Rollins's horn.

And, you know, when you hear interviews, I got a chance to meet him and to hear him play a couple of times. But mostly just to hear stories from other musicians. The things, you know, his music, even if you're like, wow, I wish I could have met him. You did meet him. If you listen to his music,

you can meet him today, actually. So I think great artists have that ability, but I don't think anyone's ever done it. Plus, just an incredible player. We're going to get into that. But I mean, in terms of like the humanity coming out through improvisation, which is such a difficult thing. Like you have to be technically so great. Your ears have to be, you know, you have to have all these things.

And of course, Sonny was also a lifelong learner. You know, he always talked about that well into really up until the end, apparently, but certainly interviews well into his 80s, even when he was pretty much retired. Yeah. I mean, he'd been semi-retired and then fully retired for decades, actually. Well, we're going to talk about this a lot, but it's very evident. I mean, he's the avatar of sort of the humble servant of the music. Yes.

You know, he truly talked that way about humbling his ego to the music and putting his growth in the music above himself in a lot of ways. And there's countless examples on record, but even in his actions throughout his life. I mean, maybe even to a fault and to the extreme, like to the point where he had several sabbaticals where he didn't give the world, you know, the gift of his music because he wanted to go in solitude and practice.

But he was already good. Documented good. That's great. That's the humility. He doesn't feel like, oh, the world's going to miss me. He's like, something doesn't feel right, and I'm going to spend some time with it,

even if it means this or this. Yeah. Just an incredible musician and a big loss for music now that he's gone. A massive loss, and I think it's always for me, and I wonder for you, Adam, and for our listeners and viewers out there, it's kind of a, I always have trouble adjusting when we lose a master like this

because like we're just listening, we've been listening, I've been listening to Sunny all week and we've been listening, preparing for this today. And so as soon as you start to hear him, these beloved records, and I've been hearing some stuff I never really heard also,

which is always exciting. I feel like he's here. And so there's a discordant thing to even say that we've lost him because we haven't lost his music. We've lost the body, the human from this world. But what a legacy.

you know, what a gift that's going to go on for hundreds of years, thousands of years. I mean, I think that this is going to be some of the most interesting, documented improvisation, a true jazz improviser. In fact, if you could like, remember we used to have the, did you ever have encyclopedias when you were growing up? Yeah, of course. By one at a time at the schnucks? Yeah.

Okay, good. Yeah, yeah. And we didn't have a lot of money, so we only got to see. You only got to see. Well, if you got to Jay or I for like jazz improviser and you only had to pick one picture, you could put Sonny Rolls. I'd be fine with that. I think you're absolutely right. direct connection from his heart to the listener. Yeah.

You know, like, it's like he's talking to you, which is why I'm so glad you mentioned, like we still have him through this music. You can hear him talk to you. I think one other thing, just to frame this today is like, let's remember, Sonny Rollins, you know, passed away, as we said, just this week, 2026.

He was born in 1930. Yeah. Now, I know you're not big on math, but that was a long time ago. I'm not going to make you add that up. Yeah. But, I mean, Sonny Rollins stood it. I'm not saying he's the last of the giant.

but we're getting close that stood firmly as, not even as a youth, but as a young player in the bebop, like the beginnings of bebop, really. Yeah. Connecting, you know, playing with Charlie Parker, learning right at the feet. I think Charlie Parker was 10 years older than him. That's right.

So not even a whole generation. Miles was, well, it's his 100th birthday this year, so five-ish years. So Sonny was right. But, you know, the next generations that, after that, of course, that we have all these great masters is wonderful. But Sonny is a direct link. a connection. We're going to hear that in his

bridge. He's a bridge. Yeah. One of his most famous albums is called the bridge, but he is a bridge. He's a bridge. To like early, I mean, and I never, the first time I got to hear him play live was in 1986 in Columbia, Missouri concert. I'll never, one of the first great jazz concerts I'd ever seen. And, you know, he's a bebop player.

He always, I mean, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna die on that hill. Well, let's listen to some music. Because you mentioned, you know, that he was 95. He lived this big grand life born in 1930. The first track we're gonna listen to one of the very first recordings he ever made is with J.J. Johnson, trombonist J.J. Johnson, features John Lewis on piano, Gene Ramsey on bass, and Shadow Wilson on the drums. And if you were a person who was born when this recording session happened, which was May 11th, 1949,

I was not. Why are you looking at me? You'd be 73 years old today. And that's when Sonny Rollins started his career. This is Autobahn. This is an original. Sunny. Sunny, too. I believe he's 18 years old. That's what I'm saying. Steeped in B-bop. Yeah, you can hear it. JJ.

You hear that bird influence already on that bridge, right? Sure, sure. Oh, he has that big, Oh, he has that big breathy sound. Yeah, you know. The resonance. Yeah. Not like super breathy, like Stan Gats or something,

but like there's some kind of whisper happening in the tone. Man, what a, man. So Charlie Parker famously, hugely influenced on everybody, you know, with what he did, horn players in particular with pianist, I mean, everything, he changed the game. But I think for saxophone players, we've heard stories and when we lost Lou Donaldson, talk about another connection to this period

just a couple years ago. The saxophonists that were coming up, they were like five years, you know, right behind Charlie Parker, like you pretty much either copied him or you quit. Like if you were talented

and you were thinking about making music as your life, I mean, we've heard this over and over again from people, great musicians like that, he was that, he was that masterful

and revolutionary at the same time. So I think what you're hearing on this already, Sonny Rollins was like, you know, had imitated and learned his soul, like he knew Charlie Parker stuff, but you're already hearing like his little bit of a take on it, right?

Like he didn't get intimidated, although he did go shed on his own couple times for some years. Maybe that was part of it. But just to say that he came at a time, and look, there's always a little bit of luck with the calendar for some of these super talented masters that come along just, you know,

once a generation or 100 years or whatever. But like that was a little bit of serendipity that Charlie Parker was set in the bar at an all-time high for saxophone and for like Revalite, Lucianizing the music that was still very much influenced by what was coming out of New Orleans and Louis Armstrong. I mean, it was a few decades,

but I mean, like, that's still, Duke Allington set the bar. So when you're talking about bebop, you're talking about Charlie Parker, of course, the Lonest Monk, Desa Glesby, Max Roach and all these. Sunny Rollins is coming right into that. Clifford, we're going to get to that. Well, we're about to land on Clifford. It's a little bit of, like, sink or swim, and Sunny swam.

So we mentioned that he was, the Sunnis's the bridge, this sort of bridge generation between Bird and, like, Herbie. Bird. I like that. But you know who else was born in, 1930 was Clifford Brown. Oh, was it? So, yeah, that's possible that we, without some tragic

circumstances, we could have had Clifford Brown this whole time. And Clifford Brown died, I believe, 1956. So think about that. That's, is that 75 years ago? Yeah. So, no, that's 70 years ago. 70 years ago, right? So right before he died, he recorded,

Sonny recorded an album called Sunny Rollins Plus 4. And this is with Clifford, Max Roach, Richie Powell on piano, who would also pass away in that car accident. and George Moreau. This is Pent-up House. It's such a great guy. This is Sunny's tune. This is Sunny's tune, Pent-up House.

But I do consider him in Clifford Brown. Y'all. The same generation, Sympatigo, and the sound and the approach to the language. And two players that... It's different than Dizzy and... It is, you know? But they weren't...

They were super influenced by them. Oh, Clifford. Super influence, of course, by Bird and Dizzy, but, like, they were two that didn't shrink under that, you know? And just, like, practically, similar eighth note. Yeah. Like, the language, rhythmically, feels very similar. And very stylized approach to how to swing.

Right, exactly. Yeah. Like, you even hear that from this, from the earlier 18-year-old Sonny, because he's probably, like, 25 or something by the... this time. And this is one of the great beb, post-bop, whatever you want to call it, jazz standards. It's not played...

I mean, for certain periods, it's played a lot. So this is the beginning. We're going to talk about this. You know, Sonny's... I mean, he's definitely known for some of his compositions. Of course, Seamus being the most famous. But, I mean, he had these great tunes. Valsh.

Yeah, that's another one on this. We have that... Max Roeux. I remember when I first heard this, I was like, this band. Okay, so let's just talk about this real quick. Sunny, 1995, he's living in Chicago. Yeah.

He had come from his recovery, I think, within a year or something in Kentucky. Yeah. And is there working as a janitor, shedding like crazy, but kind of like, you know, plotting out the next step, and he had a chance to sit in with Clifford Brown at a club in Hyde Park, shout out Southside, Chicago. And Harold Land either could make the gig or ended up having to go back to something,

go back to, he was from California, from L.A., something with his family. And so they needed a saxophone player. But, like, at that time, like, this was a very hot quintet. Oh, yeah. Max Roach, and, like, there was a lot of buzz around him and, like, downbeat poles and all this kind of stuff. Some great recordings before.

It's Richie Powell on piano. I think it was George Morrow on bass. That's right. Of course, Max. And it's co-led by Max Roach and Clifford Brown. Like the, like, and I mean, Miles was like doing some stuff, but he was a little bit like, damn, that's a good-ass group. That's right.

Well, and they made these two albums. One under Sonny's name, Sunny Rollins Plus 4. Right, which is the exact same quintet. Exactly same. And like, I think a couple weeks later or before. Yeah, within the same month. They made this album. Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street.

Man, this is one of, this is my favorite Clifford Brown, Max Roach. of all time. This is a great album. This is MRC records. I'll remember April. The sound on it? Ritchie Powell. Richie Poundy.

Bud Pau's brother. Yeah, younger brother. Sunny, the way he comes in? Was this Van Gelder? Headbound. I think it was. No. Bob Shed.

So this is the iconic arrangement of this song. All of these arrangements on this album are by Richie Powell, by the way. This one is shout out Richie Powell. So this thing that everybody plays at Jam Sessions, Richie Pell. Man, this is kind of a template kind of record. And we forget how much a big part, Sonny. So Sunny only played with the quintet for like a couple months, right? Six or eight months because June, we're going to talk about what Sunny did them.

But tragically, Clifford Brown and Richie Powell and Richie Powell's wife, Nancy all perished in a, car accident driving between Philly and Delaware and Wilmington. And so, I mean, I think that Sonny Rollins, and, you know, he talked about this some, like, this was very much, you know, you talk about the Charlie Parker influence on him, setting the bar high in terms of QA, like we talk about Motown, quality assurance. Sonny was like, he was like probably the most fierce QA guy in jazz that I've ever heard of. Not only in the output of what he played, but the standard with which he held himself. And a lot of these musicians at this time, that was a thing to be like, you have to have your stuff together,

you got to know this, you don't come half step and all that stuff. But I mean, Sunny was like on Mount Rushmore or whatever's above Mount Rushmore of QA. And so when he hooked up with Clifford Brown, even though it was for a short time, I mean, Clifford Brown is like the king of like perfection, the technique, the feel, the swing,

the intimidation of other trumpet players, not for anything personal just because of the way he played. So, I mean, I think, again, serendipity, but also being ready, beyond ready, when he came into that situation. And then that really set him up, even though this tragedy of Clifford being gone, he was already on his way to doing his own thing. So that was already kind of planned. And those next 56, 57, 57, 58.

It's about to explode here. He's about to go on a run. Yeah. And a lot of, actually, a lot of what we're about to listen to, or at least a good chunk of it, was recorded before. 53, 54, 55, some of these things. All released, though, 56, 57, 58. And shout out to all these great.

Late jazz records, prestige, contemporary MRC. I mean, not shout out to the small amount of money you were paying the artist, but shout out that you didn't make them exclusive contracts. You couldn't because you weren't paying enough. But Bluno kind of was. You'll see all these mixes of labels these guys said. But it enabled us to be able to have, you know, I think he made 12 records in 56 and 57. Insane.

You know, and not just like filler records. All bangers. And with like different bands and different configurations. Well, here's one that was released in 56, but recorded in 54. This is Miles Davis's album. And this is a classic album. This is like a top 20 all-time jazz album. It's called Bags Groove.

features Sonny Rollins, Milk Jackson, Thelonious, Monk, Horace, Silver, Percy Heath, and Kenny Clark. This is Sunny's original composition OLEO, which is now, by the way, a jam session standard for Ridage. Yeah, wait. Is Sunny kind of, was he under the radar,

like, one of the greatest, like up there with Monk and Duke Allentine for jazz standards? Correct. Okay. Why do we never talk about that? I don't know. Is it correct? Oh wait, he played the melody correctly.

Awesome. Yeah, let's do a sunny thing. Oh, man, his phrasing. And his intonation. Oh. This is a horn. Silver, Percy Heath and Kenny Clark on the rhythm section.

Percy Heath is killing on this album. Base players, check the check. Transcribe Percy Heath all over this record. Some of the most perfect bass lines. He's a part of Miles' sort of ascension during this time. You know, he's in that band. Miles writes a lot about Sunny in his autobiography, but he also starts making his own music. This is another jam session standard from his album, Tenor Madness.

This is the title track, Tenor Madness, featuring John Coltrane. Ever heard of it? Now we're getting to back gallery. And in Sonny's album, this is the first track. And he gives it to train. I think it's the only time they ever recorded the other in the studio. I mean, these are two men really starting their prime. Right.

Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones. Is that okay with you? Yeah, definitely. Is this Van Gelder Studios? I believe it is. From the bass, I'm like, it's got it. And this was, during this period, this wasn't even when he's in Englewood and what's still there. It's like at his house.

It was in his parents' house, in the living room. Produced by Bob Weinstock. Let's skip ahead a little bit. Yeah. There's Sunny. Yeah. Oh, Philly. Man, Sunny's mastery of the different registers

of the tenor saxophone unmatched. Even by train. Yeah. Oh, man. What a sound. Like, he understood that instrument, right? Another album that's come out on in 1956, also recorded in the 54, just like Bag's Groove.

This is an album called Moving Out, Sunny Rollins, With the Loneous Monk and Kenny Gorham. This is more than you know. Pianist is in the penalty box for the intro for some reason. I like it. I'm here for it. Man, can we listen to this? That's Tommy Potter on the base, by the way.

Wait, wait, wait. What are you doing? I love the way Monk plays in this. Sonny. Hawkins' influence. We should have talked about him. Hey, this is an interesting album. This is the last track on the album,

and this is the only track that has Monk, Tommy Potter, and Art Taylor. Everything else is Kenny Dorham, Elmo Hope, Percy Heath, and R. Blakey. And this is a great record. Yeah, it's a funny little ad-on thing. There's some other great stuff. I think it's Monks.

I think it's Mysterio. So there's a couple of really good Monk albums. Well, we've got some cute up here because it's such a good relationship. There is an album called Thelonious Monk and Sunny Rollins. So these two really really, master's get together three times. Yeah.

A couple of great examples here. This is from that 1957 is when it was released, but again, recorded in 53 and a little bit in 54. This is the way you look tonight. Oh, yes. Sonny Rollins. Good call. Okay.

We got to play on Instagram. Okay, okay. Sonny, thank you. Yeah. Like, this is one of the greatest. This is the shit right here. Period. Maybe the greatest saxophone.

And, I mean, it is like the degree of difficulty? That's crazy. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And the degree of joy? 12. Yeah. Yeah.

Here it is again. Another Van Gelder. Tommy Potter and Art Taylor on that. Base and drums respectively. AT underrated. At Bryant-Simmel, you can tell it's 18. Yeah, this is a great... And then just the very same year, they release

perhaps one of Monk's most famous, most celebrated albums, and Sonny's a huge, huge part of this sound. It is brilliant corners. And this is Bemshiv Swing, featuring the great Clark Terry. Great album cover, too. Tuna, not called.

It's on the Riverside available Or in Keep News Sunny was kind of the template I mean train too for sure during this period But for what would become Charlie Rouse Yeah Influenced hugely by Sonny Rolls

But like the way That he could play with Munk And interpret his songs I love Clark Terry and Sunny's sound together Brilliant Corners Sunny's all over it The title track Brilliant Corners Is also brilliant

and definitely worth your time. You know, one thing I'm thinking about, Adam, as time has gone on and now we're definitely in an introspective, retrospective viewing of the legacy of Sunny Rollins, I think John Coltrane for a lot of people has always, like just all different kinds of musicians and jazz lovers,

has kind of sat at this certain place as a tenor saxophonist as the goat, you know? And I mean, look, And why did I use that term? That's stupid. But, you know, because people, like, I don't know. You wished I hadn't, right? You said it.

No, no, no, but I'm saying we put him on such a pedestal. Of course. I do. I do. Yeah. And I think partly because he died relatively young, 1967. And then Sonny was with us until just a few days ago, there's a certain lionization of, like we talk about Clifford Brown.

And these are incredible, masterful artists that were hugely influential well beyond their life on this earth, right? But I think with Sunny, like if you look at the different interactions and we haven't even gotten to his trio playing without piano, to his solo, I mean, I remember hearing him play solo saxophone at Lincoln Center.

I want to say it wasn't out. I don't know why I'm thinking it was outdoors. It might have been like late 80s, early 90s. But I mean, I think that he may be the most influential and revered among saxophone players in particular, even above John Coltrton. I mean, it's not about above.

But in a way that I think others, like if you talk about Joshua Redmond, Brand from ourselves, Chris Potter, you know, Joe Levano, I mean, the influence, the reverence, the connection is, and for sure, John Coltrane, of course, and of course Charlie Parker,

we're talking about the OG there, right? I mean, it's kind of like, you know, saying as a pianist, like, you know, I'm influenced by Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk or Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans and Chick-Corps. like, yes. Yes.

You know, like, all of it. Right. All of that kind of like, we all go through these like eras where it's like, and you hear tenor players. You can hear young tenor players go through their sunny era. Yeah. You can hear them go through their train era. Sometimes you hear them go through a little Wayne era.

Yeah. You know what I mean? And that's part of a lot of musicians development and growth. And of course, so many other people. But I mean, it's very personal. But those two, especially, I think you're right. Those two especially are like at some point, everybody sort of like spends time with right, you know?

I just think that, like, if you were to press me and be like, who is the most influential tenor saxophone of jazz of all time, I think I would say Sonny Rollins. Because if we talk about, like, the tenor players from our generation, from my generation, maybe even, yeah, Brantford, Joshua Redmond, I know I'm missing great people. But even, like, not just tenor players, Kenny Garrett, Chris Potter and stuff.

Like, I think that you hear, like, a direct influence even more than training. And maybe that's because trains, I mean, like, Train is so influential to all of us, to pianists, to his quartet to the whole thing. And I mean, this is ridiculous that I'm even saying. I just, I don't want to understate the influence that he, Sonny, had. I think a lot because he didn't play a lot like the last 20 years of his life. And even before that, he didn't, he never was like. This is, this is sort of maybe just a cultural thing.

Yeah. Because we lost train so young. Yeah. And that becomes very intense for people, right? Like, we lost that connection with them. And we've, we've had Sonny this whole time until Monday. You know what I mean? And sometimes we take that for granted.

You know? And it's a good reminder that like we're all here for a limited time. So basically I shouldn't be sitting here saying he's the most influential tenor player after he's passed. I should have been saying that. This whole time. Thanks for reminding me, buddy. Buddy.

One of the reasons he's so, I mean, we're in the middle now of just like this is an all-time run, you know, almost unmatched. It's the imperial period. That's what we're going to call it. The imperial period. Well, we're about to go into a whole other stratosphere because in 1956 he makes and in 1957 he releases what a lot of people consider to be one of the great jazz albums ever, right?

On the highest echelons of jazz albums, it's saxophone colossus, the cover is iconic, every track is amazing, and it starts with one of the great opening tracks of any album, of any genre ever, and it's St. Thomas. We take for granted this calypso rhythm now, but this was kind of a thing. Yeah.

In 1957. And this is, you know, Sunny Rom, both of his parents were from the Virgin Islands. That's right. So, like, this is his lineage. This is his heritage. One of the greatest sounding records, right? I mean...

Hey. Max Roach on the drums, Tommy Flanagan on the piano. But just the way Sonny is phrasing that, I mean, see, he wrote this one. Del. Yeah, this is another Sunny original. Also a standard. You have a very famous version with Joshua Redmond of this. It's like this.

Oh. of ideas. Dang. It's one of the most perfect solos ever. Man, I'm glad you said that. That's exactly what I was just thinking. I was like, this is in a small group. Stratosphere.

Yeah. I mean, not that a solo has to be perfect to be great, but there's, I'm thinking like, you know, giant steps, John Colt. I mean, there's a number of them. There's some great solos that aren't perfect, but man. Miles still alive. Yeah.

I'm sorry. It's a lot. It was perfect, so I'll up. Phrasing decisions. Oh. Virtuoso. He was a virtuoso. So was Max?

No, no. What are you doing? What are you doing? We got to listen to one. We listen to anything. We got to listen to him to swinging that. Max Rush crushes this. A perfect solo, too.

Yeah. The whole album is perfect. Yeah. The way he bridges the Calypso with, it's like Max Roach on 50 seconds. Oh, my God. Sonny solo in a way. The drummers.

Sonny comes back in with the most beautiful line. I've heard some great drummers play this song. That's what I'm saying. Max, like Clifford, I think Sunny bonded. You can hear it. They bonded high Q-A. High IQ, musical IQ, but high, like... Activated. Incoming, activated.

That's all I want to do. I just, I wanted to get that far. It's a great one. And look, I'm glad actually... And we had toyed with starting, But this was great. We're kind of at the apex moment of this episode, I feel like, because we were discussing what to start with,

and you were like, we got to start with this. And I was like, well, everybody knows that. It's so great, of course. But now that I'm hearing again, I'm like, man, this is, it's such a great time when an album and a track, I mean, it's kind of like kind of blue in these, you know, giant steps and, oh, everything, 59. No, I mean, something that's so great.

But it's actually great. You know, live at the Pershing, now he sings, no way, stops. Yeah. For the right reasons. These records that sort of transcend even the artists that have made them. You know, like someone somewhere is listening to St. Thomas right now and is like, oh, I think I like jazz.

Right. You know what I mean? Like, do I like jazz? I didn't think I liked it, but I like this. Whatever this is, I like this kind of jazz. Yeah, yeah. This is that, we need a category of, I like this kind of jazz album. Maybe it's the Sunny Rollins.

I like this kind of jazz album. Yeah. And I have also Blue 7 cued up, which is another, I mean, the whole album, you could honestly, we could do a whole, we've done this, but we should do. We should redo saxophone classes because it was early days and we could do better. And it's a record, I think that

I think that jazz musicians don't talk about study, reference, and recommend enough, actually, amongst ourselves. I mean, there was a time when it was because what happens is this becomes like, I mean, it's sort of like, you know, the New York Yankees or so.

And at a certain point, it's like, I can't be a Yankees fan anymore because everybody's a man. And listen, we are going to miss a lot of stuff during this era. Like, I'm skipping over albums. He's prolific. We're not getting everything.

And we're probably going to miss something that you all love and please put in the comments what your favorite Sonny albums, especially the ones that we're missing because we're going to miss a lot. He was so prolific, especially during this period. That's just impossible to listen to everything. I think the next big thing for me that stands out is an album released in 57 called Way Out West.

This is friggin' amazing, man. And it starts with I'm an old cow hand, which is, again, incredibly interesting choice. And this was all Sonny's choice. This was not like a publicist or a producer like this was his first time and they recorded this in L.A. I believe Ray Brown was

Shelly Man on drums, who definitely was in L.A. I think Ray was already in L.A. Ray and Shelley are the rhythm section. So he's like playing with the local rhythm section? But his thing was like, he wanted to have the cowboy hat. He was like, let's make it a vibe.

Yeah, it covers amazing here. One of the greatest covers ever. And one of the greatest albums of Suck's career. We're on the trail. Another great drum setup, right? Ooh, look that bass drum sound That's awesome

Oh, wow you like your bass lines, Ray Brown style? I love my bass lines, Ray Brown style, thank you very much Man, Sunny was so flexible with material, with players So laid back through this, too I mean, if you haven't checked out way out west, give it a go Is this first pianist's trio record? Well, I'm glad you mentioned that because he's gonna go on. I don't know.

It was one of the first. But it's definitely the most famous except for a live album he made the next year. Yeah. Which is this was the first Sunny Rollins. This is the first Sunny Rollins I ever owned. I remember buying the CD when I was a teenager. Before I had saxophone colossus before any of that. I heard this before saxophone.

There was a period where this was kind of like the one everybody was talking about, you know? In the 90s. And it's not way out west. It's a live album called A Night at the Village Vanguard. It's got this pink cover of Sunny like this portrait of sunny in sunglasses and this pink hue over him. It's a blue note album and released in 58, recorded in 57,

at the Village Vanguard, which you can still go to the Village Vanguard today, and you can hear musicians making albums and making great music. And this is the greatest live jazz album of all time. In my opinion, I know you have like your Miles things that you like. I wouldn't argue with you at all on this. And we can say Live at the Pershing is also got to be up there, but this has to be in the conversation. It's in the Mount Rushmore. Come on.

Wilbur Ware, right? Wilbur Ware, right? Elvin. Oh. I remember when I first heard Elwyn on this, I was like... Yeah, Wilbur Ware Elvin Jones. Elvin Jones brushed out. Oh, sorry, no, this is the afternoon take, actually.

Oh, this is the... Yeah, this is Donald Bailey and Pete Laroca. Oh, that's right. They have afternoon set. Same day. Different band, afternoon, different day. In some ways, this is my favorite. Sunny sound.

This is my top three sunny albums ever. It's so pure and dry. I mean, just specifically on his saxophone. The playing is so. raw, pure, and beautiful. But I mean, I think he is probably the top, even above Train, I would say, to have a sound that could survive being recorded totally raw at the Vanguard. I mean, Train, of course, was great. Joshua Redmond, I mean, Bramford.

It's almost better live and dead at the Vanguard. Right. You're almost more just. But man, you've got to beassed here to pull that off. But you're almost more astonished about how beautiful that sound is. It is. It's really, it's really powerful. I mean, I love the Van Gelder.

I mean, I have my quibble. bits, of course, with like the piano and even the bass, but I think Van Gelder, the way he recorded Sonny, and saxophone in general, was genius. I mean, just incredible. That contemporary L.A., the way out west, my only quibble bit is Sunny sound on there, I think, is a little, not his playing. And it's still, I mean, they captured it, but the mix is not on the level. I mean, this is.

I don't mind it. I don't mind it. No, no, it's not. Yeah, it's just, and that's not the greatest Ray Brown sound either. That, that I agree. But, you know, look, you can hear him, and it's great. Yeah, yeah. We're nearing the end of this,

of this imperial period, as you say. I don't know why. One of the biggest albums that came out around this time, which came out in March, 1959, was an album on Blue Note called Newk's Time, and this is very highly regarded

by a lot of people, this album. It's not talked about a lot, I feel like as much as some of these others. Is this with Tommy, is Tommy Flanagan on? But this is, so Winton Kelly,

Doug Watkins, Philly Joe are on this one. Damn. If that interests you. It does. This is wonderful, and this track is called Wonderful, Wonderful. Check this out. The title, Newk's Time is a reference to Rollins' nickname Nuke,

which is apparently based on his resemblance to Don Nukem, a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Isn't that funny? Great album, Newk's Time. But this is an interesting period, Peter, because I'm going to quote from this section of Sunny's Wikipedia, which I think actually sums up this period really nice. By 1959, Rollins had become frustrated with what he perceived

as his own musical limitations and took the first and most famous of his musical sabbaticals. While living on the lower east side of Manhattan, he ventured to the pedestrian walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge to practice in order to avoid disturbing a neighboring expectant mother. Today, a 15-story apartment building named the Rollins stands on the Grand Street site where he lived. And actually, there's a petition going around to rename the Williamsburg Bridge, the Sunny Rollins Bridge, right now. Almost every day from the – almost every day from the summer of 1959 through the end of 1961, Rollins practiced on the bridge next to the subway tracks.

Rollins admitted that he would often practice for 15 or 16 hours a day no matter what season. In the summer of 1961, the journalist Ralph Burton happened to pass by the Saxon. I focused on the bridge one day and published an article in Metronome magazine about the occurrence. During this period, Rollins became a dedicated practitioner of yoga. Rollins ended his sabbatical in November 1961. He later said,

I could have probably spent the rest of my life just going up on the bridge. I realized, no, I have to get back into the real world. And it's one of the biggest legends, the lore of Sunny is this two-year period where he stopped performing, stopped recording, and just practiced for 15 hours a day, every day on the Williamsburg Bridge.

Well, 16 hours sometimes. Sometimes 16 hours. But that is, I mean, it's almost, that's monk behavior, not the lonious monk, but like religious, spiritual monk behavior. I'm going to sequester myself from this thing. He was dissatisfied with his limitations, and I need some time to go inward. And he did.

Serve the art. The ultimate. Thank you, Sunny Miles, for setting the bar in a number of ways. but I would say that might be the most profound part of his legacy is for, you know, to, and that's not schick. That's, I mean, people have tried to, it's kind of become that, you know, legendary, you know, status of this story. But, I mean, like, that was, you don't just do that to get written a story about, you know,

you do that out of some type of dedication and service where you feel like you need to improve you as a vessel, you know. I mean, we just, everything we listened to was before that, so he was already great. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't like, ah, he's been slipping. We heard what he just made in 1959. It was amazing. Yeah. But I mean, you talk about set the bars and then he set the standard.

And it's like, no, I want to be here. So the first album he made when he came back is called The Bridge. And it's one of his classics. It's an album that is very revered. And just to say, like the Williamsburg Bridge, I don't know if you've ever been on there. But it's not, you know, there's car traffic. There's subways as well. Yeah, you practice by the subway trains.

Yeah. But there's also, like, it's a walking commuting. I mean, still today. For sure. I mean, now it's a different kind of a hipster species walking back and forth. But I mean, yeah, I mean, it's very much like, you know, you're running on it, you're walking on it.

It's like a walkway. Yeah. And I mean, to be part, like, I mean, of course, he's a native New Yorker and to be part of that connection with the city, with the river, East River, the whole thing. This is the opening track from the bridge. This features Jim Hall on the guitar, Bob Cranshaw, on the double bass with whom Sonny would work lots.

Ben Riley on the drums. This is without a song. It's amazing. And so, uh, uh, . Uh,

Uh, . Uh, So check out. So check out when Sonny comes in a play. So check out when Sonny comes in and plays the melody. Like he's just a lot of vibrato playing, floating on top. Going in and out.

That was one of his most genius stylistic. Going in and out of time. Woo, in. He could be right in there. He could be right in there. And then float a little bit. I don't know if it's just because you know the lore of the bridge and the sabbatical, but his playing on this album and everything else feels so, so direct.

Yes. Right? So with like no fat. Like it's just like here's what matters. Just real like effortlessly. Here's what I have. Yeah. And it's not like he's stripping out the bebop and just, like, he's very much himself still.

Or mistakes or anything or like, you know, it's all very accepting of what he's pure intentions are. Yeah, it's, yeah. It's, I mean, it is the highest form of improvisation. Ooh. Man. Incredible music. The bridge, 1962. too.

And so much music over the years, you know, he didn't stop playing officially until 2012. Yeah. You know, obviously, like, you slow down as you get older.

Yeah. But he did a bunch of cool stuff. Alfie's theme from the famous movie Alfie, you know, all sunny with Oliver Nelson. Man, his rhythmic attenuation just within his, the way he phrases in the vibrato and,

yeah. It's super advanced rhythmically, too. did a bunch of great stuff in the 70s. A bunch of great stuff. We was playing in the 80s. We was doing a lot of stuff. But even in the 90s, I remember this album coming out. This is Sonny Rollins Plus 3.

Again, this is featuring players that he had played with in the 50s and 60s, including Tommy Flanagan, including Bob Cranshaw, this time on Electric Bass. Al Foster, this album features Jack D. Jeanette and Stephen Scott. Right. Kevin Hayes played with Sonny in the 90s, maybe in early 2000s too. Peter Bernstein. Peter Bernstein,

all the young cats in the day. And then I think he makes his last album in the early 2000s, I want to say, mid-2000s. Yeah. And then officially retires from performing in 2012. But he is on an episode of The Simpsons in 2013.

Oh, nice. That was his fun. I mean, yeah, even before 2012, like he wasn't, it would be a big deal when he'd do a, I don't even know if he was doing a tour. it would just be like a gig at like a really like a great concert hall or at a jazz festival in Europe or something and it was always an event it was like people like damn that's sunny

Rollins you know so thank you nuke yeah thank you sunny rollins just amazing and and and to anybody listening if you haven't heard sunny before maybe you've just heard st. Thomas or something like now's your time go on a deep dive and appreciate this great artist's work because he gave so much to us I mean and please put in the comments if you're listening to this audio wherever you go to the YouTube and just put in the comments like, what's your favorite? I would love to, I know that there's a bunch of tracks that I don't know, even because some of this stuff that as you've been pulling this together, it's been fun for me to discover, very prolific recorder. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

And so, dozens and dozens of albums. Tell us your favorite, but especially those hidden ones. To me, that more than you know with Muck has always been something. I'm surprised people don't know as much. I think it's one of his most massful performances. But like, as we've said, like, there's so many. There's like, there's no, I mean, it's all asked here.

from what I've heard. All S-tier. Or maybe put in your favorite sunny solo. He has some of the most legendary solos on his albums and other people's albums. Yeah.

And there's almost too many to choose from their songs. Yeah, because like the Blue 7 solo is legendary, iconic. It's been broken down by music college. Like there's so many different angles to see the genius of it. This is Blue 7.

But it's also not an untypical solo. He's got dozens just like it. He had the mountaintop on this and then that was the only one. Only time. It's true. Oh, man. This is great. Thank you.

Until next time, you'll hear it.