The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins
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- 11,99 €
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- 11,99 €
Publisher Description
An illuminating selection of writings on a wide variety of topics—everything from technique, music theory, and daily routine to spirituality and systemic racism—from the personal journals of Sonny Rollins, master of the tenor saxophone and “jazz’s greatest living improviser” (The New York Times).
Sonny Rollins is one of the towering masters of American music, a virtuoso of the saxophone, and an unequaled improviser whose live performances are legendary and who has reshaped modern jazz time and time again over the course of a career lasting more than sixty years. A turning point in that legendary career came in 1959, when Rollins stepped back from performing and recording to begin a new regime of musical exploration, which saw him practicing for hours, sometimes all through the night, on the Williamsburg Bridge. This was also the moment when he started the notebook that would become a trusted companion in years to come—not a diary so much as a place to ponder art and life and his own search for meaning in words and in images.
At once quotidian and aphoristic, the notebooks mingle lists of chores and rehearsal routines with ruminations on nightclub culture, racism, and the conundrums of the inner life. And always there is the music—questions of embouchure, fingering, and technique; of harmony and dissonance; of his own and others’ art and the art of jazz. “Any definition,” Rollins insists, “which seeks to separate Johann Sebastian Bach from Miles Davis is defeating its own purpose of clarification. . . .The Musings of Miles is then the Bouncing of Bach both played against each other.”
Edited and introduced by the critic and jazz scholar Sam V.H. Reese, The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins provides an unequaled glimpse into the mind and workshop of a musical titan, as well as a wealth of insight and inspiration to readers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Music critic and short story writer Reese (Blue Notes) celebrates tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins with this evocative if occasionally enigmatic collection of the 93-year-old jazz legend's personal notes spanning from 1959 to 2010. Individually precise, yet somewhat loosely arranged into four broad sections, Rollins's undated jottings break down his practice routine in commentary that can be mundane or surprisingly philosophical ("Today—cheeks must be puffed out the same degree when playing high or low C"; "Remember speed is relative, in that a thorough knowledge of a given passage will ultimately produce speed—so go slowly"). Intermingled throughout are shopping and reading lists, breathing exercises, and notes on cat diets. Later entries recount overseas tours, or feature letters to Bill Clinton and Michelle Obama championing arts initiatives and scholarships. Though some readers may wish for more organizational cohesion, a sense of the artist's complicated internal life and nearly religious dedication to his craft comes through powerfully and poetically: "When I play my horn I can never play the same note in the same way twice. Just like life. Every moment is a new beginning. Even if I'm playing the same song it's different each time I play it. That's why they call jazz... the greatest and most challenging music in the world.... It's the music of the heavens." This will be a boon for Rollins's myriad admirers.