Status Updates From The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins

Interesting stuff about shedding and jazz theory, but also quotes like “Strict observance must now be shown to eating of non-liquid foods plan. I believe that the energy expended through the digestive function is detrimental to my health. I must consequently adhere strictly to the liquid diet for which I have already made readiness.”

Very funny (but also part of a genuinely very interesting dimension to Rollins’s practice) is how he keeps talking about how hugely important for jazz players to stop smoking and purify their bodies and then decides “well I guess if you don’t use your lungs to play then smoking is fine”. Rhythm section gets to have all the fun per usual.

I’m like half joking but this is indistinguishable from the writings of some 13th century samurai

“In my view the American society has been a curse to mankind and the planet.”

You and me both, Sonny.