Saxophone Colossus Sonny Rollins celebrates his 90th birthday on The Tight Rope

The Tight Rope

SpkerBox Media

Society & Culture

5 • 605 Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2020

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jazz elder and survivor Sonny Rollins shares his incredible stories from the past nine decades as one of the preeminent tenor saxophone players. He also delivers some existential wisdom for these challenging times and tells us why “It’s all good.” Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/PCLOfeA7mX8 Check out “Rollins in Holland”, a brand new archival release from Resonance Records in partnership with the Nederlands Jazz Archief, coming out later this year. The deluxe 2-CD and limited-edition 180g 3-LP set is officially sanctioned by Rollins and features three previously unissued performances with bassist Ruud Jacobs and drummer Han Bennink in May of 1967 at Vara Studio in Hilversum, the Arnhem Academy of Visual Arts, and a televised performance at the Go-Go Club in Loosdrecht. The new box set also includes an extensive booklet with never-before-published photos from each venue; essays by Rollins biographer Aidan Levy and Dutch jazz journalist/producer Frank Jochemsen; and interviews with Rollins and Bennink. You can pre-order at https://resonancerecords.org/product/sonny-rollins-rollins-in-holland/. Learn more at https://www.thetightropepodcast.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetightropepod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetightropepod Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thetightropepod Creator/EP: Jeremy Berry EP/Host: Cornel West EP/Host: Tricia Rose Producer: Allie Hembrough Producer: James Artis Beats x Butter (IG: @Butter_Records) #TheTightRope #CornelWest #TriciaRose #SonnyRollins #HarlemPride #Jazz

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, hello everyone and welcome to the tightrope where we engage in the richest dialogue we can come up with and try to keep our balance on some very tough issues. I'm Tricia Rose, and I'm here
0:23.4	with one of my favorite people in the world, my comrade for Black Freedom Struggles everywhere,
0:28.4	Dr. Cornell West. Hey, Cornell, how are you doing today? Oh, I tell you, I'm fired up. I think
0:34.8	we're going to fall off this tight road today with the magnificent interlocutton
0:40.5	conversational brother we got us.
0:42.8	Just nobody liking last hundred years.
0:46.0	That's right.
0:46.6	This isn't a tough issue day.
0:48.0	This is a celebration day.
0:50.4	Right?
0:50.9	This is a celebration.
0:51.5	You know what?
0:53.1	It is such a celebration day. I think we're going to turn it right on over to you to introduce our most extraordinary guests and gifts to the world on a birthday, on a big birthday. I'm going to just turn it right on over and let you offer bring him on with us.
1:08.8	Well, absolutely. Well, I just first want to say that this is one of the very, very special occasions
1:15.1	in the history of our tightrope show because we have someone who represents the highest level
1:22.5	of what it means to be human, what it means to be modern, what it means to be American,
1:26.1	what it means to be black. He it means to be American, what it means to be black.
1:28.1	He is a towering, artistic genius. He is a spiritual giant, and he is that rare human being
1:36.9	who has a genuine gentleness and generosity. And you can feel through him the richest tradition of the modern world of
1:49.2	black musicians who in the face of catastrophe have been able to dish out so much love and
1:54.7	daringness and creativity and innovation and yet still keep their feet on the ground,
2:01.0	even as they're connected to a world beyond this one.
	...

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