Customer Reviews

Sonny Rollins: The Cutting Edge (Bayou Jazz Lives)

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Anyone can have opinions, but the ability to make a compelling case in defense of them is rare. I think Palmer succeeds. His critiques of Rollins' music, as well as the state of jazz during the various periods of Rollins' output, are well developed and quite interesting. Even if you disagree with his conclusions, his theories provide ample food for thought. This is not a biography or discography (although it contains a good deal of both), but an analysis. P.N. Wilson's Sonny Rollins: The Definitive Musical Guide is similar and also very good, but I prefer this book.

This is a fairly typical "synopsis" style narration, of facts that most hard-core jazz fans already know. There is little new information, and one could probably glean most of the book's content from the liner notes of Rollins' records and the myriad of magazine articles that have been written about him. Mr. Palmer could have done all fans a service if he had been able to secure a new, in-depth interview with Sonny (although notoriously difficult to obtain, he could have persevered in order to provide some real insight into Rollins in the new millenium), discussing his artform rather than who he has played with or specific compositions. This man will not be around for many more years and this was a wasted opportunity to really plumb the depths of the artist while he is still alive, adding fresh insight to an otherwise regurgitative book.

May be Mr Palmer is a good English teacher, but this book is a disaster. You'll find no details on the biography of one of the world greatest improvisers EVER. Instead the author feeds the reader with his very personal (and seldom valuable)judgments on the music, citations from other critics and pseudo-important academic bla-blas. The writing is sloppy, you can find a mysterious trumpeter Kinny Dorham (the name every jazz fan knows as Kenny), he forces Mr. Rollins to be born in 1929 pushing him one year back (he was born on 9/7/1930), attached sheet music contains a lot of errors and St Thomas is transposed half tone up. My advice - if you are a real fan of Mr. Rollins do not buy this reading will irritate you and raise your blood pressure.

in, my not so humble opinion,all books of this type should have as comprehensive a discography as possible ....certainly any adverts for such should indicate the presence or not of one...willietmitchell