Still Thinking About Sonny

Reflecting on the genuine and admirable humility of the late Saxophone Colossus

The other day I came across this piece I had done for JazzTimes magazine back in 2012 on Sonny Rollins having just racked up a number of awards and accolades the previous year. His 2011 album Road Shows Vol. 2 was picked as the year’s best album while he was also named Artist of the Year and Best Tenor Saxophonist in both the magazine’s Critics and Readers polls. Plus, in March of 2011 he received a National Medal of Arts from President Obama and in December was presented with a prestigious Kenny Center Honor (alongside fellow recipients singer Barbara Cook, actress Meryl Streep, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and singer-songwriter Neil Diamond.

Rollins would put his horn on the shelf for good just two years after this article had come out. And now, 14 years later, both he and the Kennedy Center are gone.

In reading the comments that Rollins gave me in our brief phone interview for this JazzTimes story, I was struck by his genuine and admirable humility, a rare quality in this Trumpian age. I was especially taken by this section:

As for Rollins, he has more to do than collect awards. “I appreciate all these things” he says, “but as far as I’m concerned, I haven’t given myself an award yet. I’m still working on my music. I haven’t gotten it all together yet. I’m still practicing every day, trying to get closer to my ideal. I don’t know if I’ll ever reach perfection, but I had hoped that one day I would become so fluent in my musical expression that I could play anything that came to mind. I think I can get closer than I am now. So that’s what I’m still striving for. 2011 is certainly not the end of my years as far as my own musical development is concerned.”

Rollins adds that he is especially proud of the Kennedy Center distinction, “because that’s great for jazz music. It’s the kind of exposure that jazz needs. And in a way it’s not for me, it’s for the people who came before me. It’s for Duke Ellington, who didn’t get one. It’s for Lester Young, who didn’t get one. It’s for Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, who didn’t get one”

And the piece ended with this bit that perfectly wraps up his career and his life:

As for his own incredible endurance and indomitable spirit on the bandstand, Rollins says, “I’ve always had a strong musical engine going on inside of me, and every time I play I usually go by that and I really don’t realize that I’m 81. I’m probably not supposed to be so enthusiastic or so dedicated or so involved at my age. It’s just something that happens automatically.

“It’s about being in the moment,” he continues. “All we have is the moment. There’s no past, there’s no future — it’s the moment. That’s it.”

Rest in power, Mr. Rollins.