Episode #139 | 8.1.23
Sonny Rollins: Armed Robbery, Rikers Island, and the Return of the Saxophone Colossus
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In this episode
Sonny Rollins did time at Rikers Island twice: first for armed robbery and again for using dope. He was a fiend and a pickpocket. He nearly got himself killed when he ran to Miles Davis’ defense after a bloody scuffle with a cop outside Birdland. At the same time, Sonny Rollins was universally acknowledged as the greatest living tenor saxophone player. But he wanted to get better. He knew he could kick dope and kick petty crime. He also knew that in doing so, he could improve his own playing. So at the age of 29, at the height of his musical powers, he disappeared. He left thousands of dollars on the table and retreated to the Williamsburg Bridge in New York City, where he practiced nearly every day, alone, for hours at a time – in hopes that his life would turn around.
Sources
Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins, by Aidan Levy
Jazz Icon Sonny Rollins on Giving Up Playing and His Legacy (Vulture)
‘I was so close to the sky. It was spiritual’: Sonny Rollins on jazz landmark The Bridge at 60 (The Guardian)
Sonny Rollins: What I've Learned (Esquire)
A Quest to Rename the Williamsburg Bridge for Sonny Rollins (The New Yorker)
Sonny Rollins Interview and Profile (Men's Journal)
Who Is Sonny Rollins? (BBC, 1968)
Sax and Sky (NY Times)
Sonny Rollins: "Musicians can live a charmed life" (UNCUT)
The Narcotic Farm And The Little Known History America’s First Prison For Drug Addicts (Forbes)
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Zeth Lundy.
Copy editing by James Sullivan.
Mixed and engineered by Matt Beaudoin.
Score by Jake Brennan.
Saxophone by Cooper Nelson.
Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.
Additional music services by Bryce Kanzer.
Ad music composed by the late, great Ian Kennedy.
Disgraceland theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak