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Sonny Rollins: Rollins in Holland review – saxophone colossus in gale-force form John Fordham
The creative acquisitiveness of improvisation sounds boundless in the work of jazz sax master Sonny Rollins. He turned 90 in September. Every timeless theme and every long-forgotten one, every pop hit or fragment of an aria, every quirky mannerism he has heard in the jostling soundtrack of the world seems to have been filed somewhere in his head. These fragments make warped reappearances live, sometimes in apposite places, sometimes in provocatively oppositional ones. That’s what put the phrase “the greatest living improviser” on the flyers to Rollins’ gigs.
Last modified on Wed 16 Dec 2020 09.47 EST
The creative acquisitiveness of improvisation sounds boundless in the work of jazz sax master Sonny Rollins. He turned 90 in September. Every timeless theme and every long-forgotten one, every pop hit or fragment of an aria, every quirky mannerism he has heard in the jostling soundtrack of the world seems to have been filed somewhere in his head. These fragments make warped reappearances live, sometimes in apposite places, sometimes in provocatively oppositional ones. Thatâs what put the phrase âthe greatest living improviserâ on the flyers to Rollinsâ gigs.
Sonny Rollins: Rollins in Holland album cover. Photograph: Resonance Records