Fans have long recognized Sonny Rollins as among the upper echelon of figures in improvised music. Some have even ventured to call him “the greatest living improviser.” Critics and those in the music industry seemingly concur. Not only has Rollins been awarded several honorary doctorates, but he is the recipient of the Grammy Award for […]
Early on, listening to Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix, jazz was something in another yard, walled-off, and separated from what I was listening to on the radio. It was an idea–segregated by race, primarily, and from behind that wall, everything else in the music stayed hidden. So when I listened to traditional New Orleans jazz, […]
Following the riots of the prior summer, there was no Newport Jazz Festival in 1961. However, the city had not abandoned the idea of being a cultural center for jazz. Instead, promoter Sid Bernstein hosted “Music at Newport.” In some ways, it emulated the original. It was set in both the same venue and time […]
