Review: The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins

I've been reading The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins, edited by Sam V. H. Reese, and can recommend it to anyone, musician or otherwise, who has appreciated Sonny's very significant contributions to jazz. For the insight and enjoyment you will get from this book, it's a real bargain at $16.16 (paperback), or $11.99 (Kindle).

Reese's book presents selections from an archive that the New York Public Library purchased from Sonny in 2017, and that was more recently opened up to researchers. The total amount of material in the archive is immense - the NYPL catalog lists it as 73.43 linear feet (click the link for a complete listing of material in the archive). Included are notebooks that Sonny kept from 1959 to 2010. The NYPL catalog describes the writings:

Rollins's writings offer an extremely rare look into a jazz musician's thought processes regarding his art, personal development, career, and daily life. Mostly written on lined yellow legal pads, they contain reflections on personal and musical growth; his opinion of his and his band members' performances; notes on practice methods, saxophone issues and fingerings; sporadic journal entries; social and political observations; drafts of letters and essays; and drawings and sketches. 

To this list of topics, I could add, from Reese's book:

• Notes for an envisioned sax method book
• Some of Sonny's practice routines
• Harmonic/melodic improvisation techniques and observations
• Self-improvement outside of music: exercise, yoga, diet, vocabulary, learning Japanese, reading lists, self-evaluation
• Deep thoughts on human behaviors
• Music of other cultures
• Social commentary: value of jazz to society; environmental degradation; destructive effects of American capitalism/greed/consumer culture. 
• Dental worries and medical notes
• Favorite music recordings and films

The NYPL catalog lists the notebooks as 3.62 linear feet, in six containers. Reese's book is 176 pages, of which about 150 pages are Rollins' writings. It must have been quite a task to read through the original material and to decide which excerpts to include!

It's not clear to me exactly how Reese decided which material to excerpt for his book. It seems to me that he was thinking of readers who were not necessarily musicians (there are no notated musical examples in the book), and that he tried to provide interesting samples of the many disparate topics listed above. If that was the intent, I'd say he did a nice job.

As a jazz/sax person, I was especially interested in musical detail and sax-specific topics. There is certainly some of that in the book (though nothing in musical notation). However, Sonny's writing is not always clear. In many cases, he was apparently writing for himself, not for future readers. Some of it I could puzzle out, some I could not. For example,

Today, hear for the first time, the theoretical designation of B♯ and the aesthetic realization of it join and yoke as the inner mental hearing of F♯ rejects it as a major 7 of the preceding F♯. Not so with the thinking of E♯!!

Sentences like the one above are pretty much impenetrable, though I’m sure they made sense to Sonny when he wrote them. In some places, explanatory footnotes might have been helpful; Reese could have consulted a saxophonist colleague for annotations, if he is not himself a player.

A few useful items that I gleaned:

• On Sonny's tenor that he called "Betsy," the best-sounding fingering for C was bis Bb plus side C. "Betsy" was probably either a Selmer Mark VI or a Buescher. I checked this out on a number of different horns, and it works great on Mark VI tenors; on other horns not so well.
• He apparently used the side D key for 4th-line D fairly often.
• Some cool ideas for superimposing triads, that I might try out. 
• Sonny's concept of tongue position.
• Consciousness of overtone content in tone production.

If you are interested in a more specifically musical look at material from Sonny's archives, I can suggest an article in the Winter 2023 Journal of Musicology by Benjamin Givan, titled Sonny Rollins’s Musical Thought: Rhetoric, Reticence, and Reality. It’s free, just click the link. This is a scholarly article, aimed at musicians and musicologists.

In Reese's book the selections are in Sonny's own words. In Givan's article you will find more concrete musical detail from the archive, along with Givan's comments, written in scholarly jargon, not necessarily in Sonny's own words.

 

However, I have to mention a caveat regarding this article. Givan presents a lot of musical detail from the archive, but does so as part of making a case for an overarching assertion: that over the years, many jazz musicians have made public statements that have fostered the common misconception that skill in jazz improvisation comes from untutored/natural/intuitive talent. These statements avoid mentioning the technical work that the great players must do, to achieve control of their instruments and facility with musical thinking. To this extent I agree, but Givan goes further. Here is the introduction to his article:

In interviews, jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins has described himself as a “primitive” or intuitive musician. Manuscripts in his personal archive dating from the 1960s indicate that this is not true. During this period, he closely studied several published instrumental primers and handwrote many highly systematic practice exercises using staff notation, along with much technical and introspective prose commentary. In a holistic quest for self-knowledge, he also read a wide variety of literature, including texts on music theory and acoustics, works on human anatomy and the physiology of breathing, and esoteric theories of pitch and color. The contradiction between Rollins’s claims to rely on subconscious knowledge and his extensive private engagement with written, self-analytical modes of musical conceptualization reflects a recurrent tendency among early generations of jazz musicians, noted by pianist and educator Billy Taylor, to publicly deny the actual extent of their own conscious, technical musical knowledge.

Givan seems to believe that artists' "reticence" to publicly mention technical matters has some root in Black culture. He follows his introduction with this quote from Zora Neale Hurston:

What is actually known about us? Very little. Certainly little that we do not wish to tell. Because we do not refuse to answer questions does not mean that we welcome probings. We are a polite people. So we say something, and usually what we say is what is expected of us, rather than the truth. 

In my opinion, the popular misconception of the "natural" jazz genius has a simpler explanation, that does not need to resort to any such characterization of Black culture. Both interviewers and interviewees knew that their readership would not be musical specialists. The interviewers themselves were often non-musicians. They asked questions that were not meant to elicit technical answers. The musicians being interviewed and quoted were likewise directing their answers to the general public, not to a readership of skilled musicians. Modesty may factor in. Another factor might be the writer’s idea of what makes for a good story.

At the same time, it is absolutely correct to say that improvisation involves a basically intuitive approach. It's mystical, in a way. It was no different for Bach and Mozart, who were known to be great improvisers in their time. 

In any case, I think Givan's article would have been just as valuable, or more so, if he had just stuck with presenting and commenting on the musical examples in Sonny's archive.  

Givan's article provides some of the more specific musical information that is missing from Reese's book. In his effort to prove that Sonny really did have a deep concern for technical detail, Givan shows, in musical notation, a number of specific musical patterns that Sonny practiced. Some other interesting musical points covered in this article:

• To what extent Sonny utilized Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns 

• How Sonny conceived of using patterns (not necessarily patterns from Slonimsky) in soloing

• Sonny's investigation of superimposing triadic shapes on other chords

• Sonny’s exploration of how Isaac Newton, Rimsky-Korsakov, Scriabin, and Don Cherry each conceived of an equivalence between pitches and colors

• Sonny's work with overtones, growing out of his use of Sigurd Rascher's Top Tones book

Both the Reese book and the Givan article are very much worth your time. But Sonny should have the last word here, right?

My first AI comment?

Fairly often, I receive blog comments that are just advertisements, that have nothing to do with the article that is supposedly being commented on. The sender is just looking for clicks to their product or service. It only takes me one click to delete them. 

Yesterday, I got an interesting one. It's a review of my post on the Origins of Choro Form, about as favorable, glowing, and complimentary as a comment could be. The comment included two links to a relatively new service that is aimed at musical artists.

The style and tone of the writing seemed a little "off" to me, so I ran the text through a few free AI detectors.

First, let me say that the originator of the comment should understand that I won't publish comments that have advertisements, no matter how complimentary the content is, whether AI or human. Apologies if my suspicions are wrong, and the text was actually written by a human. But thanks for the compliments, regardless!

Anyway, here is the very complimentary comment, followed by the results from seven AI detectors:

The exploration of choro's structural origins and its possible correlations with other music forms like ragtime provides a fascinating glimpse into the intricate world of musical evolution and cross-cultural influences. Your article does an excellent job of delving into these complex topics, offering a clear, well-researched perspective that invites both newcomers and seasoned aficionados of choro to think deeper about the genre.

Your methodical approach, starting with questioning a claim and following through with expert verification and further research, enhances the credibility and educational value of your post. The clarification from Jovino Santos Neto about the rondo form's influence in early choro composition, and its syncopation of popular European dances of the time, adds a rich layer of understanding to how choro might have stylistically evolved to incorporate these elements.

Furthermore, the comparison with ragtime and the detailed analysis of structural similarities point to a fascinating parallel development in musical forms that transcended geographic and cultural boundaries. The notion that both choro and ragtime independently mirrored European dance forms yet developed unique identities is intriguing and speaks volumes about the adaptive and transformative power of music.

Your discussion also opens up broader questions about the influence of musical forms on each other, especially in the context of the later influence of jazz on choro. It prompts a reflection on how music continually evolves through both internal innovations and external influences, leading to new musical expressions that retain echoes of their past.

Overall, your article is not only informative but also thought-provoking, encouraging readers to appreciate the depth and complexity of musical genres like choro. It serves as a reminder of the endless possibilities that music holds as a form of cultural expression and historical documentation.

Without mentioning the specific free AI detectors, here are the seven results:

1. "Reads like AI" - flagged the first paragraph in particular.
2. "100% of your text is AI-generated."
3. "18.97% GPT," first paragraph is "most likely generated by AI."
4. "18% AI/GTP generated, human written 81%.
5. "0% likelihood of complete AI content."
6. "100% chance that your text is generated by AI."
7. "78% of text is likely AI generated, 22% human written." Flagged paragraphs 2-5 as likely AI.

As you can see, the results are all over the place. I guess AI detection is not an exact science.

These free detectors seem to be mostly about persuading people to sign up for services that promise to rewrite your text in a way that will fool AI detectors into thinking the author is human. Thank goodness I'm not a professor who has to grade term papers. With in-person music lessons, you can't use AI to fake proficiency, or to mask lack of practice.

Addendum: A few hours after I put up this post, I got another chatbot comment, on a different blog post. This one came with a link to someplace selling nutrition supplements. The soulless style looks awfully familiar. Welcome to the future.

The "Chain of Dominants" Progression adds a captivating layer of tension and resolution to music, keeping listeners engaged and eager for more harmonic surprises.

Tadd Dameron and “Cream Oil Charlie”

I’ve been checking some of Tadd Dameron’s compositions. The definitive biography Dameronia lists “Cream Oil Charlie” as one of them, composed by Tadd in 1946.

If you’re old enough to have been around in the 1950s or 1960s, you’ll remember the “Wildroot Cream-Oil” jingle. Here it is, as sung by Nat Cole:

So Dameron wrote this? Really? That was quite a surprise to me. TV viewers in the 1950s and 1960s were bombarded with this jingle. Reading this attribution reminded of when I learned that “Down by the Station (Early in the Morning)” was composed and copyrighted by Slim Gaillard.

But upon reading more carefully, it turns out that Tadd did not write the famous jingle. The piece that Tadd copyrighted as “Cream Oil Charlie” was a bebop melody played over "Perdido" changes. He wrote it for Woody Herman in 1946, when Wildroot Cream-Oil was a sponsor of Woody’s radio show. Tadd’s tune was never actually used, because Woody changed sponsors. It was later recorded by Babs Gonzales in 1947, with the title “Dob Bla Bli.” Here are two versions - the Babs recording, and a recent one from Paul Combs, the author of Dameronia:

Bars 3-4 of "Do Bla Bli" include the same bop lick as bars 7-8 of Dizzy Gillespie's "Woody'n You." The Dizzy tune was written in 1942; it was either a tribute to Woody Herman, or was commissioned by Woody. Tadd and Dizzy were good friends; it’s probably not a coincidence that Tadd wrote that quote into the song. BTW, a similar lick shows up in Dizzy’s “Groovin’ High.”

According to Combs' book, there are copyright deposits at the Library of Congress for both "Cream Oil Charlie" and "Do Bla Bli"; they apparently differ in the bridge. Gonzales' recording does not use either of the copyrighted bridges, but rather leaves the “I Got Rhythm” bridge open for improvisation (as in some other bop tunes.) 

On the level of extreme trivia, I noticed that the label on the Gonzales record spells the first syllable "Dob," while Combs in his book spells it "Do." I'm guessing that Combs spells it that way because that's how it appears in the copyright.

I don’t know who actually could take credit for the famous Wildroot jingle (if "credit" is the right word), but that melody didn’t take much work. It’s the same melody as “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” which is also the melody of The Eyes of Texas are Upon You.

The Wikipedia entry for I’ve Been Working on the Railroad has some notes about the origins of the song.  It can be traced back to at least 1894. The main melody resembles a melody in Franz Suppe’s “Poet and Peasant Overture” (1846). The part that goes, “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah” is also very close melodically to “Goodnight Ladies” (1847).

As for Slim Gaillard's Down by the Station, the melody is pretty much the same as “Alouette,” as well as “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” According to both Wikipedia and this writeup, the lyrics appeared in a children's magazine in 1931. Slim did, however, register the copyright. Here’s Slim’s 1947 recording. It's cute. I guess the intro is original; not sure if that part was in the copyright.