Still Striving

Published on Thursday, 31 July 2008 19:00 | posted by Geraldine |

Jazz legend Sonny Rollins says he is still searching for his ultimate performance.

by Geraldine Royds

Born in the rough New York neighbourhood of Harlem in 1930, Rollins believes that, despite the racism and hardship, he was lucky to be born at a time when there was so much music around.

He started playing saxophone when he was a child and by twenty years old was playing with the likes of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. Rollins idolized Parker and followed him into the abyss of drug abuse. Although Parker couldn’t pull himself out of it, he managed to inspire the younger Rollins to get clean.

Rollins then took the first of his legendary sabbaticals, turning his back on his career. “I wanted to work on my horn, I wanted to study more harmony, I wanted to better myself,” he says. Although he had withdrawn from public life, he was renowned for practicing his sax alone on the Williamsburg Bridge. He spent his next sabbatical studying Zen Buddhism in Japan and yoga in India. While living in an ashram, he considered abandoning music altogether, but a teacher persuaded him that music was his spiritual path.

Widely regarded as the most talented and innovative tenor saxophonist of his generation, Sonny Rollins continues to record and to give concert performances around the world.

‘But if you love music and you've been given a gift, then pursue it,’ Rollins says. ‘Be satisfied, be happy, be grateful, be a good person and don't worry about anything else.’

Inspiration!

Still Striving