Sonny Rollins: Audio Interview with Ira Gitler About Ike Day & More, 1 of 3

(NOTE: Effective immediately, I will be giving presentations on Zoom exclusively for Founding Members—that is, for everyone who gives $55 or more per year—called New Research. To start, on March 31 and April 1, I will share the latest research on Coltrane—my own, what others are working on, and what new releases will be coming out! In the future I will present New Research on Miles, Billie, Monk, etc. etc. Now to today’s essay:)

On April 26, 1994, jazz journalist and historian Ira Gitler interviewed Sonny Rollins before an audience of students and faculty at the Manhattan School of Music. The recording of that event has never before been heard. Because it runs for 80 minutes, I will be presenting it in three parts. (You may know about an interview that Ira Gitler conducted with Sonny Rollins at the January 2006 conference of the International Association of Jazz Educators in N.Y.C. That was transcribed and published in the April 2006 issue of Downbeat. Obviously that is not this one, but you might enjoy seeing some photos of Sonny and Ira from that event here.)

Rollins apologizes at the start because he has a “bad tooth” that is bothering him. But, in spite of that, he is quite talkative. And he clearly enjoys having an audience of musicians—at times, he bonds with them by addressing aspects of a music career. Gitler structures the interview as an abridged oral history, reviewing Sonny’s musical life in chronological sequence. He begins by asking Sonny to talk about growing up in the Sugar Hill area of the north side of Harlem. Sonny recalls seeing such artists as Coleman Hawkins, Don Redman, Duke Ellington and others in his neighborhood. At 5:28 Rollins says a bit more about Hawkins.

At 7, Rollins tells an interesting story about how his Aunt Lizzie exposed him to blues recordings and eventually to saxophonist Louis Jordan, who became his first inspiration. (See p.22 of Aidan Levy’s thorough and very well-researched Rollins biography. In fact, you can find more about all of these topics in that book.) Rollins talks at 12:38 about his first professional engagements with singer Babs Gonzales (with whom he made his first recordings in 1949). At 15:20 he describes a a gig where he first met Miles Davis. And at 17:30 Ira tells how Sonny’s first recording happened through Miles in 1951. Ira was there, he jokes, as a “friend of the court”—but really, he was there because he worked for the company, Prestige Records. At 19:06 Ira tells a story about a slightly later recording session that was entitled “Dig.”

At 20:08 they talk about legendary drummer Ike Day (b.1925 or 1926, d.1954). Levy’s Rollins bio has quite a bit of new information about Day (see the index; also search for Day’s name on this page of Robert Campbell’s extensive record research site). But I thought you’d like to actually hear him play. Day was only recorded twice, in early 1948 and February 1949 in Chicago. From the second date, here is the last minute of the Coleman Hawkins theme “Stuffy” as performed by Gene Ammons (ts), Christine Chatman (pno), Leo Blevins (g), Lowell Pointer (b), and Day on drums. As you’ll hear, Day was a high energy, very interactive player:

Returning to the interview, at 22:10, Ira asks about the quintet with Clifford Brown and Max Roach. Ira makes an error here when he says that they made a “series” of records. In fact there were only two albums—the quintet At Basin Street (actually recorded in a studio, but representing the repertory they played at that club), and Rollins Plus 4 (the same quintet but under Sonny’s name). All other albums of Brown, Roach and Rollins together are outtakes, private tapes, and “live” bootlegs that were released many years later.

Ira skips over the late 1950s, and focuses on Sonny’s second “sabbatical” from performing which lasted from late 1959 until November 1961. Sonny talks about being originally self-taught and seeking out teachers during this break. When asked how he was affected by the music of Coltrane and Ornette (at around 28’), Sonny doesn’t quite address that issue, and simply acknowledges that he knew them both. (I’ll be writing about that at another time.) Finally, he discusses his interest in physical health, as well as spiritual health through Rosicrucianism, yoga, Buddhism and more. (The mentioned trip to Japan and India was later, in 1968, although he had already been to Japan in 1963.)

OK! Let’s listen:

Soon we’ll hear the next part of this conversation!

All the best,
Lewis

P.S. Thanks for help with this post to bassist David Perrott, my former grad student and now a bass repair expert/luthier in the N.Y.C. area.