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| Sonny Rollins Returns to the Center’s Jazz Club Series Sonny Rollins, Grammy Award-winning jazz master, brings his tenor saxophone to the Orange County Performing Arts Center April 30 for a one-night-only special performance in the acoustically superb Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Considered the most formidable of jazz improvisers, Rollins first recorded in 1949 and, more than half a century later, remains one of the few surviving deities from a golden era of jazz likely to never be equaled. The New York Times states Rollins is "jazz's greatest tenor saxophonist, "and the Village Voice calls him, "the last jazz immortal." The Orange County Performing Arts Center applauds Media Sponsors KJAZZ 88.1 FM and the Long Beach Press-Telegram for their support of the 2008-2009 Jazz Club Series. Mercedes-Benz, USA is the Premier Sponsor of the Orange County Performing Arts Center's 2008-2009 Season. Born Walter Theodore Rollins in Harlem, New York, he was introduced to jazz and blues by his uncle who was a professional saxophonist. In high school, he decided to play the tenor saxophone after playing piano and alto saxophone during his younger years. He was inspired particularly by Coleman Hawkins and by the time Rollins was out of school, he was already working with big-name musicians such as Bud Powell, Fats Navarro and Roy Haynes. In the 1950s, he recorded classics such as Saxophone Colossus, Worktime, Tenor Madness (with John Coltrane), A Night at the Village Vanguard, Way Out West and Freedom Suite. During the '60s, Rollins recorded The Bridge with Jim Hall and Bob Cranshaw, led a quartet with trumpeter Don Cherry and drummer Billy Higgins and recorded with his idol Hawkins. He also received a Grammy nomination for his score for the popular film, Alfie. In 1972, he released Next Album. In the early '80s, Rollins was working under the Milestone label and produced two dozen albums including tour recordings and in-studio tracks with the likes of Tommy Flanagan, Jack DeJohnette, Stanley Clarke, Tony Williams, George Duke, Ron Carter and McCoy Tyner. In 2005, Rollins formed his own record label, Doxy Records. The first release under Doxy, Sonny, Please earned a Grammy nomination. Rollins' Road Shows, Volume I and a DVD, In Vienne, have also been released under Doxy. Rollins won his first Grammy for This is What I Do (2000) and his second for 2004's Without a Song (The 9/11 Concert). He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 2004. Additionally, he was inducted into the Academy of Achievement at the International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles (2006) and was a recipient of the Polar Music Prize, presented in Stockholm (2007). Most recently, he was named Best Tenor Saxophonist in the 2008 Down Beat Critics' Poll and the Jazz Times Readers' Poll and by the Jazz Journalists Association. Orange County Performing Arts Center The Orange County Performing Arts Center presents a wide variety of the most significant national and international productions of music, dance and theater to the people of Southern California. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through an array of inspiring programs and an unsurpassed attendance experience. It owns and operates the 3, 000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2, 000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, and the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center's studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. These state-of-the-art facilities are united by a community arts plaza. The Center's Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and community plaza, along with facilities of the adjacent Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the new home of the Orange County Museum of Art, are located at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The Orange County Performing Arts Center presents a broad range of programming each season for audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County, and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, up and coming indie bands, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach more than 500, 000 students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future. The Orange County Performing Arts Center is proud to serve as the artistic home to the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Jazz News :: home page |