Jazz Great Sonny Rollins on iTunes and Youtube

Sonny Rollins, who made his name with the acclaimed album Saxophone Colossus, has defied the
fate

of other jazz greats. He’s long outlived his important contemporaries – Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk – and, at 76 years old, he’s still out there issuing new albums (the latest being Sonny, Please), and even new web videos.

Jazz fans will want to explore the new 12-part web video series that’s just being rolled out. Scheduled to be released in monthly installments (a new one on the 23rd of each month), the video series will "introduce Rollins, the man and his music, to new listeners," using "musical performances, both current and classic, interviews and exclusive behind-the-scenes videos." (See the full project description here.) Entitled "The Sonny Rollins Podcast," the collection can be accessed on iTunes in video. But you can also find the videos on Youtube/Google Video if you don’t have (or know how to use) a video-enabled iPod. That may be the easiest way to go.

The first episode, "On The Road with Sonny," just came out in the past few weeks, and it features "behind the scenes rehearsal footage from two late 2006 Arizona concerts." You can watch it below. If you want to continue following the series, then just visit sonnyrollins.com toward the end of each month, and they’ll post each new installment.

See Open Culture’s Arts & Culture Podcast Collection