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.
The people you mentioned are great players but from the point of view of saxophone players Rollins was more accomplished than those you mention. His position in jazz is well deserved because of his improvisational creativity and inexhaustible imagination. His phrasing and mastery of rhythm is unrivalled , his tone is full of all the history and emotion that you could ask for. No one can take a simple melody and improvise on it like Rollins. Rather than being overrated, he is probably underrated , and by the look of your comments that is definitely true.
