SONNY ROLLINS on Monk and The Bridge 

When I was a kid I walked into Sonny Rollins - I had to say something - so I asked him how do you get really good at playing jazz. He said, "just keep practicing man, just keep practicing." I felt really stupid and not cool - but he answered me straight without a hint of condescension.

Almost every day from the summer of 1959 through the end of 1961, Rollins practiced on the Williamsburg Bridge for 15 or 16 hours a day, no matter what season. That takes commitment!

I was told the bridge story in the 80's by my bass teacher and I thought, this man had to have the self awareness and strength of a giant to better himself. All the while the business was trying to convince him to just put as many LP's as possible. I admire the man for the music, but mainly for that stand he took at a very difficult time in his career.

I enjoy the Blank on Blank style animations.

I'm totally taken back by how modest Rollins is.

Thanks so much for posting.

The interviewer, Ben Sidran is the namesake of Miles' tune, "Nardis" It's Sidran backwards

Very nice to listen to this interview i read a long time ago, very enthousiastic animation too ;) !

Great content. Congratulations!!!

love this video! very creative and funny too! (and the characters actually look like the real people.) i wonder if Sonny went through all the gyrations typical of his performances while practicing on the bridge--or just cooled it, not wanting to scare people or get dragged off the cops.

Thanx,really cool!

The idea that Sonny Rollins ever doubted his abilities makes me really stop and think. Very cool video.

This is amazing!

thank you

Hi! Greattt animation! So nice. Can i use the video to make a presentation for a song, doxy, of sonny that we will play at class? Of course, mentionet the source and allways grateful of you :) Greetings from Argentina.

Nice animation! :-)

does anyone know what song is playing at the beginning?

Where can you find the full interview?

Why not use some music of Music of Mr. Rollins with Monk?

Coltrane playing made him rethink his game in 59...truth

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.