I'm afraid I failed to remark on Sonny Rollins' 75th birthday back in September - there happened to be a number of live jazz events going on in Hong Kong that week - but I'm reminded of the omission by the similarly belated release of The Essential Sonny Rollins, a double set on RCA Victor's Legacy label.
We'll get to the discs in a moment, but I ought first to say that it's a real joy to have the Saxophone Colossus still with us. He might so easily not have been.
By the early 1960s Rollins had beaten addictions to both heroin and alcohol, two habits that killed all too many jazzmen of his generation, and has managed to survive the life on the road that prematurely saw off more than a few more. The death of his friend trumpeter Clifford Brown in a 1957 car accident was one of the things that drove him to drink.
As if the hazards of the jazz life weren't enough, he had a near brush with death in New York during the September 11 attacks. He was all but under the World Trade Centre when the planes hit, but got clear before the towers fell. Like many Americans, Rollins felt that the best response to that tragedy was to carry on doing what he always did, bringing to the job an even greater intensity than usual.
Four days later he played a gig in Boston with his long-time bassist Bob Cranshaw, drummer Perry Wilson, trombonist Clifton Anderson and percussionist Kimati Dinizuli. The performance was a testament to all the participants' belief in the healing power of music, and further evidence of the spirit of defiance that's always been at the core of Rollins' art. It was recorded, and finally released back in August this year as Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert.
Rollins, who has always objected to the conditions musicians endure in clubs, plays mostly concert halls these days, but he stays active, and it's good that some relatively new music of his is available.
