Woodshedding by Sonny Rollins
Posted: 31 Jan 2023 2:59 pm
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."
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."