Sonny Rollins Still Rollin` !

Though his legs are getting wobbly and his back bending with nearly 80 years under his belt, Sonny Rollins seemed to transform before our very eyes as he brought his instrument to his lips and began to blow. With his sax almost reaching to the floor, the legendary jazzman shook up the house, giving us samples of a whole range of the sax`s tonal and rythmic possibilities. The band that he has with him for this tour includes african percussion and trombone which gave the opening number a distinctly Tengooz-like sound.
It was good fortune that put me in the 7th row last night at the Tokyo International Forum, as I had been upset that Iwouldnt be able to take advantage of Sonny playing so nearby. But at about 2pm on the day of the show i found out that my meeting at the university had been cancelled. It seemed fated that I hop on TX and try to get a ticket. Amazingly I got what was nearly the best seat in the house.

I have to say that it was a bit tedious to sit through some a the other band members solos (after last night I really appreciate Kenya`s amazing trombone sound and his stage presence) but sonny really gave it his ALL and treated the huge crowd which ranged from young adults to extreme seniors to as much of his soloing as we could have imagined.

It was a truly satisfying evening of music.

Avi Landau