Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins

by Bob Blumenthal, John Abbott (Illustrator)

Jazz legend Sonny Rollins will celebrate his 80th birthday this fall, and Saxophone Colossus will be published to mark this occasion and honor his incredibly prolific career. This intimate appreciation combines the images of John Abbott, who as Rollins’s photographer of choice for the past 20 years has captured the saxophonist at home and at work, and the essays of Bob Blumenthal, a jazz critic who has chronicled Rollins and his art for nearly four decades.

Sonny Rollins has been at the center of jazz and its evolution virtually from his birth. Growing up in Harlem in the heyday of swing and coming of age as the first wave of modernists announced their discoveries, he quickly found himself sharing bandstands with his idols and making music of his own that continues to influence and inspire. Saxophone Colossus , named for the 1956 masterpiece of the same title, is Abbott and Blumenthal’s tribute to Rollins’s music and spirit.

Genres: Music, Biography, Jazz

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[Dan Shonka · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love jazz, you probably have the album by this name (Saxophone Colossus) by Sonny Rollins. Blumenthal takes a deep look at the album track by track, while also speaking with Sonny Rollins nearly 50 years later. Blumenthal also tells the reader a good bit of Rollins's life before and after what is arguably his best single album. But the true gem of the book are the photos of Sonny in various venues. I only wish the book had some pics of him from around the time of the featured album. At any rate, Blumenthal gives the jazz lover plenty depth in his discussions of the tracks and of Sonny's career.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book for fans of Sonny Rollins. The pictures of Sonny are incredible! Printed on a heavy stock paper the colors/ compositions are exquisite. It also contains a brief overview of Sonny's career analyzing his most important compositions.