Jazz is an endless source of ideas, because you can use anything. You can play operatic arias. You can incorporate them into jazz. You can play gypsy music and incorporate it into jazz. You can European classical and you can… — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
I'm fortunate that I'm making a living at it now because I'm not equipped to do anything else. — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
How ironic that the Negro, who more than any other people can claim America's culture as his own, is being persecuted and repressed; that… — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
I enjoy playing clubs. I still enjoy the closeness of the nightclub venue. However, after a certain period of time and after playing around… — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
Music represents nature. Nature represents life. Jazz represents nature. Jazz is life. — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
Improvisation is the ability to create something very spiritual, something of one's own. — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
Even the most jingoistic person would have to admit that even American cultural music comes from Europe. That's what classical music is, real European… — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
...this is my dilemma. I'm a guy who makes things up as I go along, so nothing is ever finished - there are so… — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
Jazz is the type of music that can absorb so many things and still be jazz. — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
My mother came from St. Thomas. I heard that melody and all I did was actually adapt it. I made my adaptation of sort… — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
I feel that L.A. has not always been my strongest base for support. That can be for various reasons. — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
You had many jazz musicians who lived in the United States, who had a hard time being accepted over here and had to play… — Sonny Rollins Copy Share Image
