Sonny Rollins

Itinerary

 

2009

Reports from Sonny's Tour Manager, Peter Downey

Costa Mesa, CA
4/30/09

We traveled by tour bus down to Costa Mesa and had the rest of the day off. Bret Jazz Video Guy is here to meet us and shoot some video. It's always good to see Bret and not just becasue he has a cool convertible.

We've never been in the Orange County Performing Arts Center. It is only a couple of years old but they have done a great job with the sound. Sometimes you run into problems with the room being to reverberant and the sound just bounces around. This room sounded great a sound check with no people in the room.

We are changing the stage set up once again and we'll see how it works. This time looking at the stage it will be Bob Cranshaw on Bass, Kobie Watkins on drums, Victor Y. See Yuen on percussion and Bobby Broom on the far right side instead of the left side. I hpoe this balances better for them on stage.

Tonight Sonny stared with Strode Rode and ended with Don't Stop the Carnival. We also heard Nishi from Sonny, Please, which is one if my personal favorites.

Friday Bobby is taking off to Ausitn to participate in a benefit. Sonny is doing a few interview on Friday as well to prepare for the European dates this summer. Then the rest of us are flying out Saturday to Austin.

Santa Barbara, CA
4/27/09

It's good to be back in Santa Barbara. We've been here a few times so we're familiar with the area. Like where to find a Trader Joe's. Our travel agent is based in Santa Barbara as well so we have friends in town. On our first night here the band went out with the two Janet's from our travel agent to Brophy's, a great seafood restaurant down by the water.

The concert was another great performance to a sold out Campbell Hall at UCSB. We tried a new stage setup again and we'll see how it works out. Sonny started off with a powerful Sonny, Please and tied things up with the classic Tenor Madness. He also threw in HS which I haven't heard in a while. I thought the band sounded great with this setup. We'll have to see how they feel.

Fortunately we have a day off in Santa Barbara so most of us will head down to state street to wander around. Then we are off by bus to Costa Mesa.

Miami, FL
4/18/09

The second show of the tour was in Miami, FL and the Adrienne Arts Center for the Arts. I had the change to be in their before and it is a great facility. The concert is part of the Jazz Roots series. This is part of a program where they bring in young students and teach them about the history of jazz through lectures and classes. Then they get real world experience and get to hear part of the sound check. Afterwards the students can ask the band questions.

Originally Bobby Broom was going to do the Question and Answer session with the students but the whole band stuck around to meet the students and talk with them. Sonny came out and met the students as well and answered a few questions.

After the concert Sonny was meeting some guests and one of them was a 13 year old saxophone player. Sonny spent at least 30 minutes with him giving him a lesson and practicing circular breathing. It tuned into a very late night.

Next we're headed out to the west coast to Santa Barbara and down to Costa Mesa before we head onto Austin.

Fayetteville, AR
4/15/09

The Sonny Rollins 2009 tour kicked off on Wednesday, April 15 in Fayetteville, AR for Sonny Rollins first appearance ever in Northwest Arkansas. After delays out of LaGuardia we all finally made it to Fayetteville to find some fantastic weather.

The Walton Arts Center is a very nice venue with a fantastic staff. Sonny even had the opportunity to attend a reception prior to the concert to meet some of the benefactors.

The energy level of the concert kept rising until the last song of the second set ending with Don't Stop the Carnival and the audience on their feet. We were told prior to the concert that some members of the audience did not know who Sonny Rollins was but came because they heard the music would be amazing. I'm sure there are some new Jazz aficionados in Fayetteville after that concert.

This spring welcomes back Victor Y. See Yuen on percussion. Victor performed with Sonny back in the 90's but hasn't had a chance to perform with the band since 1999 as he worked on his own projects. Victor brings with him a special island feel in his playing drawing on his former home of Trinidad.

Peter Downey
Tour Manager

 

Final Concert of '08
Zurich, Switzerland
Tonhalle
12/9/08

The drive from Munich to Zurich short. It is only about four hours. We are staying not far from the Bahnhofstrasse and it is a great time of year to be in Zurich with all of the Christmas decorations and the rain has finally changed over to snow.

Sound check is difficult at the Tonhalle. The venue is a great concert hall for an orchestra but when you put amplified music in the venue it creates problems with low frequencies. Fortunately the sound crew is familiar with the venue. THe show sounded much better with all of the people in the hall and the band felt great on the stage. The audience was full of energy and on their feet the minute that Sonny walked on stage.

This was our final show on this tour and it is our last concert of the year. It's Wednesday and the band is on their way back to New York and Chicago. Sonny and I will return to New York on Thursday. We had a very nice talk last night after the concert about 2009. More concerts are coming together and will be added. Keep checking the website for updates to the itinerary. In the meantime lookout in Fayetteville and Miami as well as Santa Barbara and Costa Mesa. Sonny is going to have to get out a lot of pent up energy after not performing in public for a few months.

P.S. Forgot to mention. Bob Cranshaw turns 76 today and he'll spend the next 6 hours on a plane. I could swear he's only 56.

Philharmonie
Munchen, Germany
December 7, 2008

We had a nice long bus drive from Dusseldorf to Munich and we are all looking forward to a day off in Munich. It's such a beautiful city and we are in a great location. This time of year is a great time to be in Germany with all of the Christmas Fairs. Everybody on the street shopping and sharing some Gluewein.

Unfortunately after tonight we leave Germany for Switzerland so we have to say goodbye to our Monitor Engineer, Toby Lange and our House Engineer, Florian Lang as well as our Tour Manager, Thorsten "Toddy" Herbig and our bus driver, Gunter. We'll miss them but I am sure we'll see them again the next time we are in Germany.

Dusseldorf, Germany
Tonhalle Düsseldorf
December 4, 2008

2 hours and 45 minutes. unbelievable. I hope I have that much energy and that much to say at 78 years old. This was yet again another great concert.

Sorry for the delay in posting setlists. We have had a few problems connecting. Bad internet connections at hotels and no internet at a venue.

The Tonhalle Düsseldorf is a very nice and modern venue. I have heard the building was a planetarium at one point.

We were concerned about the sound bouncing around the room but with the help of Toby and Flo, our monitor engineer and Front of House engineer everything went well. In fact it sounded so good that Sonny sang the blues.

Berlin, Germany
December 1, 2008

What a wonderful concert. Sonny was worried because we had sound problems the last time we were in Berlin. The sound check went well but you never know how the concert will go. During the concert by the time he reached Sonny, Please I knew we were in trouble. I think the the whole song may have lasted more than 45 minutes. I know his solo lasted 30 minutes. It was amazing.

After the concert I was talking with Sonny about Sonny, Please and he said he thought he cut his solo short. I can't believe that the thought he had more to say at that concert.

Great stay in Berlin. We were in a nice hotel in Gendarmenmarket. We all had a day off and had a chance to visit nearby landmarks like checkpoint charlie and the Brandenburg Gate. Tomorrow we are off to Dusseldorf.

See you there.

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Hamburg, Germany
November 28, 2008

We started off with a pretty rough day here in Hamburg. It turned out that the Philharmonic needed the stage at the Musikhalle to rehearse until late into the afternoon. We couldn't start setting up our equipment until they were done and the stage was cleared. We barely had time to do a sound check. In the end it turned out to be a great show. The audience was on their feet in the end clapping in rhythm until Sonny returned for one more.

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We started the fall European tour in Germany this week. Our first concert was at Alte Oper in Frankfurt. If you have seen Sonny in concert before you may notice we are trying something different on stage for the next few concerts. We have changed the set-up on the stage slightly. Bobby Broom is on stage left and Kimati Dinizulu is on stage right. This may change the balance of the sound on stage. We'll see what happens.

About Sonny's Fall 2008 Tour of Brazil

From our Guestbook:

Sonny Rollins' Fans Worldwide. I need to share with you all the amazing experience of watching Sonny and his wonderful band (Clifton Anderson, Bobby Broom, Bob Cranshaw and Kobe Watkins) live in Sao Paulo. It was 2 hours of excellent music, a strong stage presence, throwing to the audience the best in Jazz in the world from the Saxophone Colossus.

Imagine this: in each solo, the audience went mad, yelling and clapping their hands. People of all ages and tribes in total ovation to our Greek God. In the beginning, the audience was shy in front of the Colossus, however, after the second song we were all captured and involved by Sonny hypnotized tunes. As a result, when we realized, we were all stood up, yelling and asking for more.

God Bless Sonny!!!!

Anderson Damiao
Sao Paulo, Brazil

From Peter Downey, Sonny's Road Manager:

So far It's been an interesting trip to Brazil. The first show was a small auditorium called Auditório Ibirapuera with a very modern design. We had a fascinating start to the afternoon as we began sound check. First the bass amp wouldn't work and when it did it sounded terrible. The backline company couldn't get it to work properly and promised a new amp within an hour. Plus traffic. Then we plugged in Bobby's guitar amplifier and it caught on fire. Bobby carries his own amp heads and when we connected them to the speakers they literally sparked, flamed and burned out the circuit board. Nothing was wrong with the speakers just Bobby's personal guitar amp. Fortunately they had a couple of Mesa Boogie Mark III's on site so we plugged in those and set Bobby up. Unfortunately one didn't work. Five amplifiers later we had two good guitar amps for Bobby to play.

On the way from the dressing room to the stage I was walking with Sonny. I was still a little stressed about the sound check and the lack of time we had because of the technical problems. Sonny and I were riding up on the elevator from the dressing rooms to the stage and he says to me that he's "sorry about the boys". I'm thinking I never have heard him refer to the band as "boys" . He said " Well it just didn't turn out to be a great year". I'm thinking it's been a great year. Tour of Japan. Australia. Singapore, what is he talking about. The elevator door opens and we step onto the stage and he says. " Papi just wasn't hitting in the post season, Beckett wasn't pitching well in the post season, maybe next year for the Red Sox" Then he steps onto the stage and starts Strode Rode.

The audience was full of energy and on their feet for the encore. Sonny comes out and starts the encore with Isn't She Lovely (yes that was quite a surprise) and ended the show with Tenor Madness.

Sao Paolo
10/21/08

On Tuesday we had an eight hour bus ride from Sao Paolo to Rio de Janeiro. A long day but it was one of the most comfortable busses we have been on. Plenty of time to sleep and get caught up in accounting. I actually read a few pages from a novel. That's novel for me. I never have a chance to read unless it's contracts or receipts. We had a few hours to walk the beach in Rio then off to the Tim Festival. It's a large outdoor space with a couple of stages under large tents. The stage we were on was very large to accommodate Kanye West the following day.

Before the show Sonny told me he wasn't feeling well. Apparently he ate something that gave him an upset stomach and he didn't get very much sleep. Of course he came out on fire at the beginning of the concert. I think Sonny could have pneumonia and no one would know. He would still come out playing on fire.

I couldn't believe the audience here. They were on their feet at the end of the concert dancing and cheering up against the front of the stage. I swear this was a rock concert.

Rio de Janeiro
10/23/08

Friday we were back on the bus for an eight hour trip back to Sao Paolo. Again a long but relaxing day.

Our final show is back at the Auditório Ibirapuera on Saturday morning. The building has a very interesting design. The auditorium is located in a large park in Sao Paolo. The back wall of the stage opens up to the park. They literally turn the stage around. They face all of the equipment the opposite direction and play to the park. Thousands of people show up for a free concert. We had to show up by 9:00 am and did a concert at 11:00 am. They band did a great job. After a long day on Friday on the bus they were at the auditorium at 9:00 am for an 11:00 am concert.