Woodshedding by Sonny Rollins

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robert kramer
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Joined: 27 Nov 1999 1:01 am
Location: Nashville TN

Woodshedding by Sonny Rollins

Post by robert kramer »

Sometimes it's tough to shovel the snow away from the door of the shed, sit down and get down to business. For Sonny Rollins, woodshedding was a way of life, just as important as the gig.

Here is a New Times book review of an excellent biography of Sonny Rollins, "The Sound of Sonny," by Aidan Levy.
Included is easy to listen to audio of the review. Very inspiring.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/20/book ... Position=1

Quotes from review:

"Most jazz musicians practice by themselves; “woodshedding” is part of the life. But Rollins’s notion of practicing expanded into nearly all of his life, to the point where you wonder whether he’s practicing in preparation for the thing or if practice is the thing itself — whatever the thing may be: a gig, a recording, a new level of musical expression, a higher consciousness, the next life."

"Here are many stories, too, of Rollins playing solo in dressing rooms during breaks between sets; of Rollins beginning a gig by starting his playing from the back of the room as he moves his way forward; and even one of him doing the reverse at the end of a set in Chicago in 1964, told by the drummer Beaver Harris: Rollins played without stopping as he made his way to the door, as he opened it, as he closed it, as he walked through the parking lot to find his car."

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Larry Dering
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Joined: 17 May 2013 11:20 am
Location: Missouri, USA

Post by Larry Dering »

Point taken. Maybe the horn was stuck to his lips.
Fish
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Joined: 25 Feb 1999 1:01 am

Post by Fish »

I'm in the middle of this book right now, following along with Sonny's Prestige Boxset. It's fascinating.
Joe Goldmark
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Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA 94131

Post by Joe Goldmark »

I've told this anecdote before, but it bears repeating. When Casals was 94, he was asked why he practiced four hours a day. His reply was that he was "making progress!"
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