There is no living artist in the Jazz firmament more revered than Sonny Rollins.  He is admired for, among other things, eluding his audience's expectations of him.  Never was this more true than on July 19, 1985 when he performed a set entirely unaccompanied in the Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art.  Listening to this set, the listener gets to hear Sonny working the puzzles, rebuses, puns and equations that inform his best improvisations.  It is as revealing as the glass and steel structure of the modern buildings that surrounded MoMA.  

 

And who was it that invited Sonny Rollins to do that performance? None other than WKCR alumnus Andy Caploe.  On this Deep Focus from 2015, Andy and I listen to that set, as well as some other Rollins prizes from the WKCR archive.  Andy offers memories and insights that can only come from one who was present at the moment of creation.  Trigger warning: Andy and I were having way too much fun.  Our recommendation: join in!

 

On WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD-1 and wckr.org.  Tuesday morning it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ 

 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #SonnyRollins #AndyCaploe #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast

 

Photo credit: Sonny Rollins  by Brianmcmillen at English Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org licenses-by-sa-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons