Sonny Rollins
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
He ended up being a physician.
Then I had an older sister who was also saying a lot in church and everything.
And so I was supposed to follow in their footsteps.
Of course, I didn't because I was somewhat of a black sheep.
They were much more studious than I was.
And I wanted to hang out and play ball.
And as the years went on, I was really the guy that was out going to jazz clubs and all that.
These things were frowned on at that time.
I don't think I would have, actually.
There would really have been no reason, I don't think, to get involved with that.
I got involved with it because a lot of my idols were doing it and so on.
So we thought that using drugs was sort of the thing to do.
But this is something like asking whether Billie Holiday would be the singer she is.
if she didn't use drugs.
I've had this discussion often with people.
And my answer is that, yes, I think Billie Holiday would be the singer she is regardless of what happened to her.
I mean, even though she may sing about hard times and all that, she was a consummate musician and beautiful singer.
So, yes, I think that she would sing the way she did
Charlie Parker would play the way he did.
Everybody would do what they did.