Posted by: montunoman
Pursuit of perfection under the tyranny of time - 06/01/11 10:11 AM
I found this article on Sunny Rollins very inspirational:
AGE can be unkind enough to musicians just in physical terms. Then there is what Sonny Rollins refers to as "the burden of experience", which must be a substantial weight, given that the saxophonist is now 80. But for Rollins, one of the most important players in jazz history, age is like a difficult melodic figure, just another obstacle in the quest for musical perfection.
"I've had some constraints of that sort," he says on the telephone from New Orleans, the day after performing there. "But I don't let things like that affect me. I do something else. It's like a baseball pitcher who used to be a fastball pitcher, then when he gets older he becomes what we call a junk-ball pitcher: he throws all different kinds of pitches that he's learnt will be effective. So I don't let things like that impede my progress. I'm a great believer in mind over matter. I practise my instrument every day, I'm writing music. I always want to do better. But I just feel that there's no time now not to do better. I have to do better."
About to make his second visit to Australia, Rollins oozes old-world graciousness, even if his voice now finally betrays the passing years. The fact that he has outlived nearly all of his peers and has been at the forefront of jazz for 60 years has created a colossal reputation that could be another weight, a luxury, or an irrelevancy to him.
AGE can be unkind enough to musicians just in physical terms. Then there is what Sonny Rollins refers to as "the burden of experience", which must be a substantial weight, given that the saxophonist is now 80. But for Rollins, one of the most important players in jazz history, age is like a difficult melodic figure, just another obstacle in the quest for musical perfection.
"I've had some constraints of that sort," he says on the telephone from New Orleans, the day after performing there. "But I don't let things like that affect me. I do something else. It's like a baseball pitcher who used to be a fastball pitcher, then when he gets older he becomes what we call a junk-ball pitcher: he throws all different kinds of pitches that he's learnt will be effective. So I don't let things like that impede my progress. I'm a great believer in mind over matter. I practise my instrument every day, I'm writing music. I always want to do better. But I just feel that there's no time now not to do better. I have to do better."
About to make his second visit to Australia, Rollins oozes old-world graciousness, even if his voice now finally betrays the passing years. The fact that he has outlived nearly all of his peers and has been at the forefront of jazz for 60 years has created a colossal reputation that could be another weight, a luxury, or an irrelevancy to him.
