As a teenager he played saxophone amongst famous musicians such as Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk in Harlem. Now, Sonny Rollins is one of the last living musicians of the golden age in American jazz.
A famous tenor saxophonist, Rollins will play tonight in Memorial Hall as part of the Carolina Performing Arts season.
James Ketch, the director of jazz studies at UNC and the introductory speaker for the concert, said that Rollins is one of the greats.
“His fearless manner of improvising — of playing ‘in the moment’ — avoiding any references to clichés, has earned him a place of high respect among fellow artists, critics and aficionados,” Ketch said.
Rollins is famous for his improvisational jazz, or playing without preparation. Over a repeating cycle of chord changes, the artist creates spontaneous melodies.
“He lives for the ‘dance of improvising,’” Ketch said. “He freely jumps off the musical cliff with less of a safety net below him than perhaps any other living artist.”
Ketch said the audience should pay attention to interactions between Rollins, his drummer and his pianist to better understand the artist’s technique.
“Jazz music is a conversational dialogue where constant negotiations are underway with the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and emotional landscape,” he said.
Many of Rollins’ compositions have been recorded hundreds of times by various artists.
