Sonny Rollins - Why Charlie Parker Is Still Important
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- Опубліковано 6 тра 2014
- From his Google Hangout "Sonny Rollins Meets His Fans", the Saxophone Colossus offers his thoughts on Charlie Parker. Sonny's new recording, Road Shows, vol. 3 is here: smarturl.it/rs-road-vol3-dig
I dig how sonny refers to these greats in the present tense. Exactly. Spirit never dies. And when he uses their names, he's referring to their essence, something that time cannot touch. We all have it btw
Jeff Taylor 😇😇😇😇
Mr. Rollins is a Master. He is also a gentleman who is warm, personable, humble & giving. I remember meeting him in Flint, MI in the 80's. I told him of my dreams and desire to sing Jazz. He was so kind and asked if I had considered coming to NY where I could work with others making it happen. He made me feel like it really could happen and I felt like a door was opening. It was up to me to walk through that door. WOW!! His sensitivity was excellent then and listening to these podcasts, I can see that he has not changed. The REAL DEAL!!!
Parker's technique was absolutely phenomenal. And still sounds phenomenal.
clarkewi most definitely charlie and John Coltrane are on the same league as a saxophonist
I think parker had much more impact than coltrane
@@moonsama395 agreed.
Listen to the music Lee Konitz played in the years 1954 & '55. His alto playing in Boston (at Storyville and In Harvard Square in 1954) and as a member of the Lennie Tristano Quartet at the Confucius Restaurant in 1955 is on par with Charlie Parker's playing! It is truly phenomenal. His alto sound was different and entirely his own invention!
I love these clips by Sonny. I watch them over and over again. I love what and who he talks about and I learn more about them, like the great Charlie Parker. I knew an old bass player in Valhalla, NY back in the 90's who had played on 52nd street, although not with Bird, but he saw Bird perform and he said the same thing about him. "He stood stock still and just wailed on his sax, no dancing, no clowning, just playing his music." The bass player was also an aficionado of Beaujolais Nouveau wine and he would buy small barrels of the wine every vintage from a shop I frequented and he really knew his wine too!
A most interesting fellow, Mr. Rollins
One of my favorites is a guy named Sonny Rollins...
Yes, Bird and Rabbit. Right on Sonny. I've listened a lot recently to the Road Shows albums. Saxophone Colossus Perpetual. Thank you Sonny, we love you.
My brother and I fondly remember riding the Bus downtown for a quarter to head to the record shop. When we saw the cover of "The Bridge" we flipped out..when we saw Jim Hall's name we flipped out again.... one of the greatest learning LP's we ever bought.
Thanks so very much Jazz Video Guy for these valuable videos of the wonderful Mr. Sonny Rollins. I'm hanging on to every word he speaks. It means so much to take time to listen to any great person who you respect and enjoy their talents.
Wow! Super cool. Thanks for sharing...
I feel like all these sonny rollins videos you just released could have been in a single video. Great work though. You're doing a tremendous service to jazz as we know it!
It is in a single video, the Hangout itself.
Thanks so much for posting
Our pleasure!
always relevant. Love that this video was filmed over google+ what a trip hahaha
oh yes, Google Plus
for me Sonny Rollins at it´s best is so much Jazz, interesting, outpouring and witty. Live at the village Vanguard.. Jazz can be great and uplifting if you play like Rollins
Very Good!
You need some bird, some Hodges, some Getz, some Prez, some Dex, some Sonny, etc...
Amazing
Charlie Parker had it all and he was so soulful! There were not a lot if people that had it all! The good thing is like Mr. Rollins stated, "There is a lot of music!" " You don't have to be Charlie Parker" Johnny Hodges was Johnny Hodges and that was good!
Sweet!
I love Johnny Hodges. I'm a jazz fan who listens to all of the eras. The problem is that too many of the people who have been exposed to the more "modern" sounds like Bird and so on, will have a difficult time relating to Hodges and Prez and folks who are categorized as "swing" players. When today's average listener hears Hodges compared to Bird, well there's likely going to be a complete dismissal of Hodges. It takes an ear that isn't tainted by advancements and that is a difficult thing.
Great insight doc..
Willie Jordan:
Well said!
Has Sonny actually answered the question?
No, not at all!
He has begun to and then...and then subtly has disagreed with the premise of the question - that even modern players go after Bird's; that Charlie Parker is practically relevant to musicians after all these years. (merely my paraphrasing)
Such a powerful influence on so many musicians - Charlie Parker has had then and now; not only during his era...
Why is he?
The implicit fact is that he is - Bird is.
The style of the great Johnny Hodges, not unlike that of the creative Benny Carter, although relevantly educational, is perhaps obsolete.
Great thought - yours.
Willie Jordan Willie, you're absolutely right! Yard dominated the alto during the last forty-five years of the twentieth century. However, that was after Johnny Hodges, Tab Smith, Willie Smith, Benny Carter, and so on. Jazz listeners today would skip through Yard and Newk, then focus on John William Coltrane, Sr. The so-called jazz enthusiasts would do the same thing skipping through Pops, Bix, Little Jazz, Birks, Fat Girl, Maggie, KD, Brownie, and then focus on Miles. The only way to the listen to jazz is to start from the very beginning. There was Hawk (Coleman Hawkins) the first ever use the commonly played tenor saxophone as a solo instrument, long before Newk, 'Trane and countless others. So, THEODORE WALTER ("Sonny" or "Newk") ROLLINS is right about listening to CHARLES ("Yardbird," "Yard" or "Bird") PARKER, JR.
Willie Jordan advancements are necessary. Things have to evolve. Parker was VERY important to my development but i don't really listwn to him anymore which was also necessary for me to move on .
Hodges and also Carter are amazing players that held a major influence in there sound and glissando and everything. Doesn't mean you gotta hate on people for what they dig man. Parker's solos were something else, and just complimented the Bebop feel. I'm personally a cool jazz but I can dig all kinds of it. Paul Desmond and Arne Domnerus are some of my favorites
Charlie is ❤️
...checking in again with this....And as time moves on, never more true
yup
How can I do a hangout with Rollins?? I waaaaaaaant it.
WOW!
In just a few words, Rollins tells you the essence of jazz; not just for the saxaphone but all jazz instruments....a legend. Johnny Hodges was quite different to Parker....." Johnny had a beautiful tone that often reduced you to tears" a view by Duke Ellington, which says everything.
Sonny is equating Johnny Hodges with Charlie Parker? All Rollins can bring himself to say about Bird is that he was a "very gifted musician...he had a lot to say... but.."
Charlie Parker was a great musical genius and innovator who turned around the entire jazz scene. Rollins came from Bird. Anyone can hear that in his early records.
Bird's musical vocabulary is still being quoted. His jazz feeling, his ability to improvise, his mastery of his instrument, and the beauty and originality of his music still moves and inspires people today. That is why Charlie Parker is still important.
Alain James but he isn’t Jazz God dude charlie parker is just one guy that did something cool his voice has been heard listen to some different cats
I totally agree people act like Charlie is the best thing ever and he was not. yes he did donate allot to jazz but there are plenty of other who donated. If you want to be truthful Wynton Marsalis said that every note played for jazz was already played by Louis Armstrong. Johnny Hodges donated just like Lester Young. John Coltrane , Micheal Brecker . Sound nothing like Charlie Parker
@Mr. Octobass Sonny Stitt never approached the mastery of his instrument attained by Charlie Parker. Nor did he ever approach the expressiveness achieved by Bird. If you don't hear or feel that, that's ok - but I'm sorry you can't.
@Mr. Octobass Sure. Sonny could sound like Bird - because he copied as much as he could of Bird's vocabulary. Liston - if you prefer listening to Still - enjoy.
Paul Desmond, Earl Bostic, Roland Kirk & many more unique artists.
Bird lives!
Clones have destroyed the spirit of Jazz by hiding behind technicalities and not truly swinging from their own feeling! The most gifted were not academic snob clone types. The music schools have found ways to promote their business while not promoting the essence and the people who innovated the music. The Blues is not just a scale!
so right man, blues is a freakin emotion
Education, in general, is more of a corporate thing, which tends to kill the human side of the art. It's good to have the information, but the way that we use the info is what really matters. There are people out here trying to change the corporate thing, so take hope!
Traveling man exactly. The masters taught themselves primarily because they were driven by their OWN inner voice
Right man, that's exactly what I think
Nevera true word spoken !
Profi. Composer, Flutist ,Saxist for 55 years.
they didn't call him bird for nothing Coltrane was a great to and duke miles louie jazz gods the souls of jazz
As a saxophone player i have to say that, the Bird is the key, at least one of them.
A big one.
Johnny Hodges and Charlie Parker were both great alto sax performers. But Parker went on to become a great composer - and beond that, a music genre founder.
@Willie Jordan
Anyone should be able to marvel at the tone and shape of Hodges, or the technique of Armstrong, Webster or Hawkins, and realize they are as inimitable (say, to young white players) as any be-bopper. They set the table for the roccoco flourish provided by Dizzy, Clifford, Miles, Coltrane, Parker, whatever the horn; but I no longer see ragtime or dixie as square - just badly-played, is my guess.
Mr Rollins cites the quaint pop blues ditties of Mr Fats Waller as his prime influence, from childhood. Given what a badass the G-Man became after that formative experience, I'd say the case rests- agree with you entirely.
Johnny Hodges played with Duke Ellington along with Gonzalez
yes the great s
Paul Gonsalves not Gonzalez.
If you can play like Charlie Parker you should be able to play like Johnny Hodges.
Because technically, rhythmically,
harmonically and melodically Charlie Parker was so sophisticated you can water it down. But if you can play like Johnny Hodges?.....
I am not so sure you can play like Parker.
Bebop is the language of Jazz, and that is Parker all the way.
In classical music if you can play Bach well?
You can theoretically and technically play anything. Some musicians are that influential and Parker is one of those.
I didn't know Rollins is still alive
Important point here, concerning the uniqueness of all the various jazz giants: Charlie Parker was great, but so was Johnny Hodges. The most gifted had something distinct and unmistakable to say.
Trombonology Erstwhile
They talk about making a deal with the devil to play guitar. Parker was so much better than everyone else before or since...he was unnaturally good in a spooky way. Nope I don't believe its true but still HOW can anybody be so much better as he was? I wish there were more interviews with people who witnessed him play and met him.
Indeed Charlie Parker is the greatest saxophone player of all time imo same with John Coltrane both change jazz forever
If you research and try to get a feel for how musicians like Parker .Bud Powell and Louis Armstrong and the list of course goes on and on even today the guy that are playing today they will all tell you the same thing. When they were young they started young and they practiced 8 to 12 hours every single day. That's the only way there is nothing magic about it
Charlie Parker was trying to escape from his own INVENTIONS and ideas and would have had be gotten CLEAN and lived which I turn would have changed the GAME much like miles and TRANE did AFTER. Jazz is about evolution. Bird comes out of prez ,TRANE comes out of Bird etc, I don't listen to prez MUCH, Bird is playing all of prez but faster. Sonny is coming out of Dexter and TRANE. I dropped sonny too after awhile when I heard Dexter who I STILL listen to BECAUSE he had something different all the TIME. Jazz is about evolution. Forward movement.
Mmm, I don't think Sonny came out of Dexter and Trane. I think he came out of Bird. And I've always found him to be a much more interesting soloist than Dexter.
How is Sonny doing today?
He is the last one standing, no?
Lee Konitz vs. Charlie Parker.
vs.?
Lester Young....
coucou$
?
Yeah, Sonny, we already know that Charlie Parker was talented. We already know that he was only one piece of the puzzle. What you do know and what we don't know is how different music would be today without Charlie Parker. You could give examples and explain some of the theory. But you always give an answer that anyone in the street could give. Share with us. You don't have much more time.
Are you saying Sonny is approaching the end of his life on this planet?
@@JazzVideoGuy well...he's 90..so who knows .. he could be around another 20 years...probably not. All I know is that Barry Harris has reached the point where he no longer holds his tongue. I don't agree with him..but let's it fly and expounds on it. Too bad Sonny Rollins is less of a blabbermouth
He doesn't answer the question
maybe his attorney suggested he avoid it
Sonny was MILES ahead of Parker
+Boxing Fan Sonny a boy when Parker started playing.. Evidently you are clueless. Sonny learned from Parker, Coltrane and others
+coporal4 let's not start saying Coltrane and Parker in the same sentence
LOL.
Bird is the greatest. Coming from a "classical snob". He is like the bach of the 20th century
CHARLIE PARKER es la base del BE BOP......
Newk!🎶👍❤️❤️