On The Spark Monday, we discussed the career and life of Sonny Rollins, an award-winning saxophonist, who is widely considered the greatest living jazz improviser.
Rollins used jazz to advance the civil rights movement and promote environmental consciousness. His seven-decade career has been well documented, but his backstage life is largely untold.
Aidan Levy, author of Rollins’ long-awaited biography called, Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins, will be published on Tuesday, Dec. 6th. In this book, it provide information Rollin’s relationships, the making of iconic albums, his ordeal in the criminal justice system, how he beat addiction and more.
Levy, has a special appreciation for Rollins as he also plays the saxophone and the first jazz album he bought was Rollins’ album, “Saxophone Colossus”.
He conducted over two hundred interviews to create Rollin’s biography.
“Sonny really dedicated his entire career to black consciousness,” Levy said. “As far as environmentalism goes, it’s something that he’s been deeply concerned about for decades now and he released an album called, ‘Global Warming’ in 1998 that was dedicated to promoting environmental consciousness. So it’s something that he’s always spoken about and that I think by playing this music and spreading this message throughout the world in concerts and on recordings, he has helped to advance these missions.”
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