WASHINGTON -- On Nov. 29, 1962, a 7-year-old named Yo-Yo Ma gave a dazzling cello performance here at a televised concert that kicked off fund-raising efforts to build what is now the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. That connection came full circle this weekend, as a long roster of luminaries gathered at the White House and the...
Any concert by Sonny Rollins, the great unflagging sovereign of the tenor saxophone, bears the promise of a momentous occasion. His sold-out show at the Beacon Theater on Friday night delivered rapturously on that promise, with something else besides. Conceived as an 80th birthday celebration for Mr. Rollins, the concert found him in high spirits,...
WHEN Sonny Rollins lifts his legendary horn high and launches into ''Global Warming,'' listeners unfamiliar with his ironic sense of humor are sometimes confused. The cheerful melody sits comfortably atop a jaunty calypso beat and can seem at odds with the seriousness of the subject. But the confusion usually fades. As choruses of improvised...
Sonny Rollins (født 7. september 1930) er en amerikansk tenorsaxofonist.
Spillede altsaxofon fra han var 11 år og tenorsaxofon fra han var 16 år og arbejdede indtil midten af 1950'erne sammen med en række af de mest fremtrædende bebop- og hardbopmusikere: Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Max Roach og ikke mindst Thelonious Monk, hvis spillemåde og vejledning fik indflydelse på Rollins' musikalske opfattelse.
Selv om hans musik ikke har ændret sig siden midten af 1960'erne, og hans oplagthed kan være ret svingende, må han anses for en af efterkrigstidens mest betydelige og indflydelsesrige saxofonister.