Gave the Brother a national stage and played what he wanted to play, Respect.

Sonny Rollins, a great player, & a great human being

I know, it's uncomfortable seeing Cosby now, but I thought it best to leave an historical document as is.

Whatever we feel about Bill Cosby today, this for me was truly a good thing. One of the best things I have seen/heard on TV. For all of Rollins' greatness, most of the general public have never heard or even heard of him. This type of genuine forum for an artist of Rollins' stature on TV is so rare...especially considering how much airtime lesser artists get.

A Giant Among Giants.Go Back To His Collaborations With The Giants Of The 50s And 60s. He Was A Young Virtuoso Among Tenor Saxophonists Playing The Highly Demanding Classical Jazz Genre Of Bebop! I Saw Him Live In 1968 At Shelley's Mannhole In Hollywood, California. Azar Lawrence And I Were Both 16 Years Old At The Time. We Used To Sneak In Because We Were Under Age. He Had A Trio With Buster Williams On Bass And Tootie Heath On Drums.No Piano. I Was Mesmerize By Just Looking At Him Play As He Walked Through The Aisles Among The Audience Of The Club. Full Of Charisma. He Has Been A Trailblazer In Every Genre Of Jazz. His Endurance Is Epic. I've Been Discovering Awesome Videos Of Sonny Out Of Europe From The 1990s 2000s 2010 Here On KZfaq....And He's Still Playing Strong. Over 60 Years And Still Playing! Amazing. I Consider Sonny Rollins And John Coltrane As The Two Greatest Tenor Saxophonists In The History Of Classical Jazz Music🎼🎶🎤🧚‍♀️💕👌🎼🎶😎

Amazing some who have small attention spans! I could listen and even watch Sonny bust changes and segway in and out of tune after tune after tune! The content is just like a band, he hits some bass notes of chords, jumps in some chords with arpeggios, melodies. He is doing what a band does like a solo piano, guitar whatever. Harmonic foundation. That's why he's a killer with the band. !

Sonny in his PRIME! Well not like he ain't been solidly in the Saxophone Colossus all these years!!! This clip brings smiles and tear to my eyes. What a beast!! Sonny givin' the $500 tenor lesson here... or else five hundred dollar lessons!! Hun? This clip is golden. He was taking some heat for playing with an electric band at the time. I remember this period, you can hear him quote Playin' In The Yard and snips of Poinciana. I told Sonny "Playin'" was one of my favorite records... it didn't seem to be one of his favorite recordings by 2010. haha Thanx for this clip...

One of the all time greats.

Edvard Grieg and Johannes Brahms are no longer with us, but Sonny and Bill still are. We wish all the best and good health, may they enjoy their twilight years! The song is ended, but the melody lingers on.

I love this video way too much

Rollins the Stone Cold Killer!

Love Bill Cosby and Sonny Rollins and make NO apologizes about it..

Hey! NOW you must watch, then see and hear, plus listen to the Sonny Rollins tenor saxophone solo on G-Man (1986).

Thought he was gonna play the lick at the end lmao

wow, this is before mics on the bell. you can hear him moving the horn around.

Definition of independence

Thanks for this. I downloaded the video, did a quick remaster and centering of the audio track, and replaced the one channel only audio. I'd be happy to give you a DropBox link to the new version if you want to repost it, or just to have it. Let me know...

The great saxophonist Ernie Watts wasn't clapping...

Liking this performance (or not) it's definitely a matter of taste; some people have it, others do not.

None of the sax section are clapping... That's a sax legend playing gents!

What us there to say, what is there to do… but nobody noticed- the swag as he walked on? ?????Horn section:” %^*% - should move to drums or piano- by by Selmer” Love love Sonny- hope you are well Newk

Hope Hope you left the same comment on Tumps videos. Didn't he grab a few himself? But probably different,huh?

:) the ending!!!

This is fun and Sonny's a great player, but, I don't really like his tone here. Not sure if it's the recording quality, or just how he was sounding at this time..

Love tenor sax, play it myself and while it's just my personal feeling, I'm not a fan of extended unaccompanied playing any more than I care to hear a single a cappella singer. There's a reason why you don't see a lone sax player in a restaurant or bar. It's best in a setting with a chordal instrument in my opinion (and apparently in most peoples). PS: I know Sonny's a brilliant player and I'm a fan of many years. Again, it's subjective and just an opinion.

we can take out the bill cosby intro now

He was my original influence. But find this hectic - nervosic. Nothing really being said. Mind you, if he pauses for more than 2 secs, the viewer will start banging at his TV set in the beleif that the sound has broken down.

Well Cosby wasn't that race in those fays with his all white house band and the 1 token black in the trumpet section .. sheesh.

I just listened to a 10h European podcast radio show on Sonny Rollins (yes, 10x 1h, covering 1951-2001 !!!). My opinion of Rollins is that it seems very overrated to me. First of all as a player, he does not seem to me better than Johnny Griffin, Stitt, Roland Kirk, Phil Woods, Lateef ... but enjoys a much more important reputation ... and unjustified in my opinion. Ok he plays well, but not better than the musicians I mentioned. In terms of composition, he did not compose anything, everyone knows that St Thomas is a Caribbean folklore already recorded by Randy Weston in 1955 under the title Fire Down There. His other compositions from the 50s ... well, Oleo, Airegin etc ... this can in no way be compared to the compositions of Trane, Bird, Monk or Shorter ... also, his playing and his sound are terribly degraded after 1966 (36 years). It seems that he was traumatized by the arrival of Ornette, Trane, Ayler ... In the 60's he tried to be more free than Ayler, more calypso / blues than Ornette, and more mystical than Trane, but he didn't. did not succeed. Then in the 70s / 80s he tried to be funky, disco ... with really ridiculous and cheesy results ... Did he want to be funkier than James Brown himself? Also, in the radio show they say that he was paid current $ 300,000 for himself to record the Nucleus album (so listen to the result !!!!), and that, for his concerts, his financial claims were unrealistic, only the big festivals could afford it. He played with the Stones but didn't want to go on tour with them because, according to Jagger himself, he wanted too much money! I mean, I'm not making anything up here. In my opinion, he should have remained what he was before, a disciple of Bird at the Tenor, and quit at the age of 40 to leave a quality job, and without trying to follow fashion. Thank you for not insulting me because I have documented myself on Rollins and I like to have constructive discussions without being attacked on my person.

corny as hell