Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins by Aidan Levy, Hachette Books, 2023. 715 pages + 416 pages of endnotes.
After reading Saxophone Colossus, I find it hard to picture Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins in any other way than climbing a up a mountain as he blows nonstop for hours into a tenor saxophone, switching seamlessly between melodic ballads and supersonic riffs, changing keys mid-chorus at will, self-inflating into the twice his normal size, reaching the summit and lifting his horn over his head as if making an offering to the gods, transforming himself into a deity, the descending the mountain, stumbling occasionally but never ceasing to release his unique sound, sometimes baffling the surrounding creatures yet never failing to make them move and shake and jump uncontrollably. That's how I pictured Rollins when I first saw him at the 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival, and he sustained that image in subsequent gigs at Carnegie Hall and other venues throughout the years I saw him again and again. He always seemed like a giant onstage in front of his band members, sometimes disregarding their attempts at keeping up with him as he reached for "the lost chord," never satisfied with his playing, forever reaching for places he could not understand, let alone reach. Rollins, the eternal artist, was always trying to improve until pulmonary fibrosis sent him into retirement in 2014, his eighty-fourth year.
Aidan Levy chose an interesting approach to Rollins's biography, creating what amounts to a chronological narrative scrapbook of numerous concerts and recording dates throughout the jazz giant's 67-year career. On full view is Rollins's creative process, his relentless dedication to improving his singular sound is at the heart of his legendary solitary practice routines on New York's Williamsburg Bridge during his first of two extended sabbaticals at the peak of his fame and in his rehearsals with his ever-changing bands in recording studios, jazz clubs, or live performance venues.
If readers feel the repetition of the tours and practice sessions throughout the 700-plus pages, they will also get an idea of the grind of a musician's life. As a fan, I did not mind the redundancies, even reading the 400-plus pages of endnotes, worthy reading by itself and available online. Levy captures everything Rollins: his Caribbean ancestral heritage extending to his great-grandparents; his youth in Harlem surrounded by jazz greats who lived in his neighborhood, his musical collaborators, rivalries, and friendships; his early drug addiction, incarceration, and recovery; his spiritual wanderings in India and elsewhere; and much more. Reading this exceptional biography evokes memories of listening to Rollins's searing, free-spirited improvisations in concert, which might in rare instances disappoint, but make me sorry I went. There's so much to learn here.
