I saw him in the most inappropriate setting I could imagine, a tight-assed baroque concert hall in Geneva, some time in the 'nineties, during his full-on funk band period. The audience consisted of rows of solid Swiss citizenry, mostly gray heads, the men wearing crisply ironed "jazz" shirts, the wives wearing couture "relaxed", pearls, shiny handbags. I was up in the side balcony, craning my neck to see the band, and getting increasingly frustrated. The band was red hot and joyous, but each number was greeted by polite jazz applause. After a couple of numbers, I had to get closer, so I left my seat (and my wife, coincidentally) and made my through back corridors echoing with the music to the orchestra pit, an empty gulf between stage and seats, and stood off to one side, moving just a little to the beat. A security guy came in, trying to move me out, but get this - Sonny waved him away, and I was left to my spastic moves, sometimes so close I got sweat sprayed by the conga player. I also broke societal norms by yelling my enthusiasm at the end of each number. I don't mean to present myself as a rebel here, or make the story about me - I was just behaving how you do when Sonny Rollins is blowing. The gulf between his culture and the icy regulations of the Swiss was appalling, and incidentally, showed me the way out of my life. At the end of the concert, Sonny bent to click a finger pistol at me, grinning, and I saw his eyes clear as day through his sunglasses.
Great story and so very like the Swiss! (Especially the Germanic Swiss, in my experience.) Still, they booked Rollins & his band, so presumably someone got paid for the gig despite the lackluster audience response. D in California
Saw him at Scott's with Rufus Harley on bagpipes. And at Jazz Goes to College at our hall of residence, newly built and antiseptic, with a John Surman Trio opening that was a hard act to follow.
Love this man.
ReplyDeleteI saw him in the most inappropriate setting I could imagine, a tight-assed baroque concert hall in Geneva, some time in the 'nineties, during his full-on funk band period. The audience consisted of rows of solid Swiss citizenry, mostly gray heads, the men wearing crisply ironed "jazz" shirts, the wives wearing couture "relaxed", pearls, shiny handbags. I was up in the side balcony, craning my neck to see the band, and getting increasingly frustrated. The band was red hot and joyous, but each number was greeted by polite jazz applause. After a couple of numbers, I had to get closer, so I left my seat (and my wife, coincidentally) and made my through back corridors echoing with the music to the orchestra pit, an empty gulf between stage and seats, and stood off to one side, moving just a little to the beat. A security guy came in, trying to move me out, but get this - Sonny waved him away, and I was left to my spastic moves, sometimes so close I got sweat sprayed by the conga player. I also broke societal norms by yelling my enthusiasm at the end of each number. I don't mean to present myself as a rebel here, or make the story about me - I was just behaving how you do when Sonny Rollins is blowing. The gulf between his culture and the icy regulations of the Swiss was appalling, and incidentally, showed me the way out of my life.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the concert, Sonny bent to click a finger pistol at me, grinning, and I saw his eyes clear as day through his sunglasses.
ANON RF: Great story!
DeleteGreat story and so very like the Swiss! (Especially the Germanic Swiss, in my experience.) Still, they booked Rollins & his band, so presumably someone got paid for the gig despite the lackluster audience response.
DeleteD in California
The Swiss have a great respect for jazz which gets in the way of enjoying it.
Deletegreat story
DeleteSaw him at Scott's with Rufus Harley on bagpipes. And at Jazz Goes to College at our hall of residence, newly built and antiseptic, with a John Surman Trio opening that was a hard act to follow.
ReplyDeleteSaw him in the 90s on a riverboat in New Orleans. Double bill with McCoy Tyner's band and that group backed Rollins on his set. Pure magic.
ReplyDelete