Sonny Rollins
tenor saxophone
Sonny Rollins, the tenor saxophonist, played alongside Barry and Donald Byrd in Max Roach’s band in 1956, a group Barry remembers as very good but never recorded.
- mentions
- 15
- recordings
- 12
- Barry speaking
- 6
What Barry says
As Barry tells it, after Clifford Brown and Richie Powell were killed and Harold Land left, Rollins joined Max Roach’s band alongside Barry and Donald Byrd, with George Morrow on bass. Barry calls it a really good group and regrets that nobody recorded it.
Ep.3 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harris2:142:46Interview on Italian television5:39Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶149
In a theory class, Barry says a chord they had turned into a diminished is really a G minor seventh, that Sonny Rollins played it perfectly, and calls Rollins the perfect cat. The caption is rough and does not name the tune.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished6:56Jazz theory, part 3, with score6:42
Barry links Rollins to Coltrane: Coltrane decided late to take care of business and practise very hard, and that pushed Rollins to do the same, going off to practise by the bridge.
Talking about the players his generation learned from, Barry names Rollins in the line that followed Bird and Diz, and says that wherever they went, everyone felt the same love for these musicians.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle9:04
In his own words
So we joined Max with Sonny Rollins, you know, and so we had a very good band.
So Donald Byrd, Sonny Rollins and myself, we joined Max’s band. Um, we never recorded, which is a drag. We should have.
Coltrane decided late in life to really take care of business. Which is what he did. He started very late and started practicing very hard. That caused Sonny Rollins to do the same thing
There are no recordings of this group. You know, somebody probably got us hidden somewhere, waiting for us all to die.
Every mention
15 moments in the recordings, 6 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished
Jazz theory, part 3, with score
- 6:42
Another transcript of the same exchange: Rollins did it right; really a G minor seventh.
Interview on Italian television
- 5:39
They joined Max Roach with Rollins; a very good band that nobody recorded.
Ep.3 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harris
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
- 9:04
Names Rollins after Bird and Diz in the long line everyone loved.
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Introduction by Gary Giddins
- 4:43
Someone else
Gary Giddins recalls seeing Barry with Coleman Hawkins at the Village Vanguard, on a bill with Rollins.
ManagersPro.com “Barry Harris talks about as a mentor to developing pianists.”
- 4:45
Someone else
The same Giddins introduction, reused: Barry and Hawkins on a Vanguard bill with Rollins.
Ep. 20 | Charles McPherson: Meeting Charlie Parker, Studying with Barry Harris, and the Art of Bebop
- 25:22
Someone else
Charles McPherson names Rollins with Miles and Coltrane as younger brothers to Charlie Parker.
Pivots, Pivots and More Pivots EP 161 TILF Barry Harris
- 0:00
A teacher
The host of Things I Learned From Barry Harris says Rollins uses what Barry calls a pivot.
Master Level Phrasing Ep 126 TILF Barry Harris
- 9:41
A teacher
Rollins is named among the masters whose every second teaches something.
Stealing from Bud Powell EP 144 TILF Barry Harris
In the interviews and notes
In Barry’s account, when Harold Land went home after the crash that killed Clifford Brown and Richie Powell, Donald Byrd, Rollins and Barry joined Max Roach and George Morrow. Barry regrets that the band never recorded.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶149Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶155
Barry says Max Roach hired him for a group that included Rollins, Donald Byrd and George Morrow.
Asked about being a keeper of the flame, Barry says Bird was all he and Coltrane knew; Coltrane started practising hard late in life, and that made Rollins do the same.
Cleary points to the last chorus of Rollins’ Blue Seven solo, which stays inside the basic seventh scales, as a contrast with the chromatic, altered choruses before it.
Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), ‘Making the changes’ on the blues ¶11
Cleary uses Clifford Brown’s solo on Pent Up House, whose original recording also had Rollins, to show what Barry calls the seventh scale with the half step between root and seventh. He calls Rollins both a collaborator and a student of Bud Powell.
Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Six Degrees of Bud Powell, Part ii-V-I ¶5
Rollins’ Tenor Madness is one of the tunes in the rhythm-section chapter of the workbook for Barry’s Workshop Video Part 2.
Charles McPherson remembers Barry’s Detroit house as a busy meeting place that drew musicians passing through from New York; he says he saw Rollins there, as well as Cannonball Adderley and Coltrane.
unknown (JazzTimes; the byline is missing on the current site), Barry Harris: Teacher Man ¶8
Recordings that name them
Barry’s performances and records in the archive that credit or name them.
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.