Quote
Sonny Rollins

I certainly don’t mind being so assessed. Though I’ve had periods where I’ve played with electric instruments, which a lot of jazz purists thought was not kosher, if I can use that term. But I’m quite happy to be judged as being a person who stayed the course because whatever I did, I was always honestly trying to pursue a type of a straight-ahead approach. So while people have said, “Well, Sonny did this and then that song with The Rolling Stones…,” [in 1981, Sonny played on “Waiting On A Friend” and other songs on The Rolling Stones’ album Tattoo You] but as far as I’m concerned, I’ve always been a straight-ahead player and I’ve always tried to create music in the straight-ahead idiom.

Speaking of the Stones, do you find yourself being influence by music that didn’t exist when you started, like rock music?

Well, I don’t listen to other people’s music because I’m very consumed with practicing and with trying to compose. But, of course, you hear things, you can’t go around with earplugs all the time.