Sonny Rollins honored in Sweden

Sonny Rollins (pictured above) and Steve Reich were honored with the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm, Sweden ( Washington Post ). The saxophonist received the award which comes with prize money of 1.000.000 Sweish Kroner (about 147.000 US-$) from the hands of the Swedish king. The Royal Academy of Music's citation was read by Eagle-Eye Cherry; Rollins was also honored by performances of hiphop singer Timbuktu, Viktoria Tolstoy, Lennart Aberg, Bobo Stenson and the Jonas Kullhammar Quartet.

You really must be a star if newspapers do not only print interviews with you, but even a "The Making of" of such an interview. Just that is the story which Doug Moe reports about a recent Sonny Rollins interview for the radio station WORT-FM ( The Capital Times ). They talked for 1 hour and 20 minutes, Steve Braunginn and Jane Reynolds said both of whom conducted the interview. At the end they literally had to stop Rollins as the studio was needed by someone else. After the tenor saxophonist's concert in Madison, Wisconsin, the two met the musician backstage. The Rollins interview is now being published by the magazine Jazz Improv.