There have been many great musicians that, Clifford Brown is one great example, I mean he died very early, 25. Sonny Rollins Read Quote
I guess fortunate that I’m still around and I emphasize I guess because you never can tell what musicians would be playing had they been around as long as I have. Sonny Rollins Read Quote
I’ve played with all of the heavyweights in the modern jazz, progressive jazz movement. I’ve been fortunate enough to play with them, a who’s who. All of those guys, I’ve been fortunate enough to have performed with. Sonny Rollins Read Quote
Europeans really provided many venues over there and hailed the jazz artists, and a lot of musicians went over there and stayed over there for a long time. A lot of them moved over there, lived over there, and died over there. Sonny Rollins Read Quote
You had many jazz musicians who lived in the United States, who had a hard time being accepted over here and had to play in sort of these inferior type dives. Sonny Rollins Read Quote
There was a period which I refer to as the ‘Golden Age of Jazz,’ which sort of encompasses the middle Thirties through the Sixties, we had a lot of great innovators, all creating things which will last the world for a long, long time. Sonny Rollins Read Quote
I have always been a person who is concerned with the dignity of jazz music and the way jazz musicians have been treated and are treated, and the fact that the music has not been given the kind of due that it deserves. Sonny Rollins Read Quote
I enjoy playing clubs. I still enjoy the closeness of the nightclub venue. However, after a certain period of time and after playing around some of the clubs in New YorkI felt that jazz should be presented in a more prestigious atmosphere. Sonny Rollins Read Quote
My mother came from St. Thomas. I heard that melody and all I did was actually adapt it. I made my adaptation of sort of an island traditional melody. It did become sort of my trademark tune. Sonny Rollins Read Quote
I am a person who thinks about the music first in trying to achieve something musically valid. Sonny Rollins Read Quote
