Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis.

The stories about Sunny Rollins are insane.

At the age of 29, when he was recognized as the greatest living tenor saxophone player,

he disappeared. For two whole years, he played no gigs and recorded no music. Instead,

he practiced nearly every day alone on the Williamsburg Bridge. He did this after years of

heroin abuse and petty crime.

He was a pickpocket. He was arrested once for armed robbery and again for doing dope while

on parole. And he did time at Rikers Island, not once, but twice. He took the cure at a government

facility where the CIA conducted secret LSD experiments on unsuspecting patients.

And both before and after his now mythical leave of absence, Sunny Rollins, a true saxophone colossus, made great music.

Some of the greatest jazz music of all time. Unlike that music I played for you

at the top of the show, that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from my Melotron

called Skanks and Praises, MK1. I played you that clip because I can't afford the rights to The Three Bells by the Browns.

And why would I play you that specific slice of grand old Opry cheese could I afford it?

Because that was the number one song in America on August 25, 1959.

And that was the day that Son Sunny Rollins grabbed a gun,

hopped in a cab and made a choice

that would alter the course of his life forever.

On this episode, the Williamsburg Bridge,

Rikers Island, heroin, armed robbery,

and Sunny Rollins.

I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. I'm From Grand Street, he cut up Clinton, two blocks over to Delancey, his hand tight on the handle of the case that held his mark six tenor sacks.

...