1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,279 Speaker 1: Sonny Rawlins are insane. At the age of twenty nine, 3 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,080 Speaker 1: when he was recognized as the greatest living tenor saxophone player, 4 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: he disappeared for two whole years. He played no gigs 5 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:32,560 Speaker 1: and recorded no music. Instead, he practiced nearly every day 6 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: alone on the Williamsburg Bridge. He did this after years 7 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: of heroin abuse. In petty crime, he was a pickpocket. 8 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: He was arrested once for armed robbery and again for 9 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,159 Speaker 1: doing dope while on parole, and he did time at 10 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: Riker's Island, not once, but twice. He took the cure 11 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: at a government facility where the CIA conducted secret LSD 12 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: experiments on unsuspecting patients. And both before and after his 13 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: now mythical leave of absence, Sonny Rollins, a true saxophone colossus, 14 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:11,120 Speaker 1: made great music, some of the greatest jazz music of 15 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: all time. Unlike that music I played for you at 16 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: the top of the show. That wasn't great music. That 17 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: was a preset loop from my melotron called Skanks and 18 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: Praises MK one. I played you that clip because I 19 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,399 Speaker 1: can't afford the rights to the three bells by the Browns, 20 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: And why would I play you that specific slice of 21 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: grand old opry cheese? Could I afford it? Because that 22 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: was the number one song in America on August twenty fifth, 23 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine. And that was the day that Sonny 24 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: Rawlins grabbed a gun hopped in a cab and made 25 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: a choice that would alter the course of his life forever. 26 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: On this episode, the Williams Bird Bridge Rikers Island heroin 27 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: armed robbery and on me Rawlins, I'm Jake Brennan in 28 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: this this disgrace Land from Grand Street. He cut up 29 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: Clinton two blocks over to Delancey, his hand tight on 30 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: the handle of the case that held as mark six 31 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: ten or sacks. The smell of ride drifted from a 32 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: kosher deli sour Bryan from a pickle vender on the corner. 33 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:56,079 Speaker 1: Taxi cabs conversed with their horns. Hammers pounded out a 34 00:02:56,160 --> 00:03:01,679 Speaker 1: rhythm from a construction site, always construction. But he wasn't listening. 35 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: Something else had his attention. He stopped by the newspaper 36 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: stand and gazed at the hulking mass of steel in 37 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: front of him. The Williamsburg Bridge wasn't the Brooklyn Bridge. 38 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: It wasn't poetic or picturesque, unless graffiti and junkies were 39 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: your idea of poetry. The Williamsburg Bridge was car wrecks 40 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: and crime, a diving board for George Bailey types looking 41 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: to make one last goodbye in this cruel world. But 42 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 1: he didn't see ugly when he looked at that bridge. 43 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: He saw hope. He saw a sanctuary, a place to 44 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: disappear for hours at a time, days even, and just 45 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: blow his horn up on the bridge. He could do 46 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: the work. He's so desperate and he needed to do 47 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: and not bother anymore. The work was necessary. He was dissatisfied. 48 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: His sound and his playing needed improvement, and he had 49 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: to get better. He knew it would take time, so 50 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: he canceled his upcoming gigs and his studio sessions. He 51 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: was on bridge time now. He climbed the steps. A 52 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: subway car rattled overhead the j M maybe the Z trade. 53 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: He didn't notice. He didn't hear the moan of the 54 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: tug in the East River below either. At the top, 55 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: he found a cranny to hide inside, took his Mark 56 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: six out of its case, and began to play. In 57 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine, at twenty nine years old, Sonny Rawlins 58 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: was the acknowledged colossus of the tenor sacks. Downbeat magazine's 59 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: prestigious annual poll ranked him number one. His friend Miles 60 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: Davis called him brilliant. But it was guys like Miles 61 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:55,040 Speaker 1: who were forging a new path forward in jazz kind 62 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: of blue. Miles' record was something else, and not just Miles. 63 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: John Coltrane too, Train had giant steps, and Burnette Coleman 64 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: had the shape of jazz to come sunny. Rawlins peers 65 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:13,159 Speaker 1: were leaving him in the dust. Sure, he played the 66 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 1: good audiences, and he got good marks, and he got paid. 67 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: But it wasn't about the crowds or the critics or 68 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,160 Speaker 1: the money. It was about something bigger than all that. 69 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:26,799 Speaker 1: It was about getting better, being better, and not better 70 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: than Miles or better than Train. It wasn't a quantifiable thing. 71 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:35,359 Speaker 1: It was a feeling, an intuition, the personal sense of achievement. 72 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: That feeling was somewhere out there in the sky and 73 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: in the clouds. On this bridge, he looked out at 74 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: the East River, and though he couldn't see it, he 75 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:48,479 Speaker 1: knew the four hundred acre island was out there around 76 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: the bend on the other side of Astoria, and he 77 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: never wanted to set foot on that island again. He 78 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: could only guess what people were saying about him down 79 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: on the street this time, Sunny go, Did he retire? 80 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: Is he back in the pen? Is he dead? Anything 81 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:07,720 Speaker 1: was better than what they used to say about him 82 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: years ago. The best piece of advice echoing around Harlem 83 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: in Manhattan was, if you saw Sonny Rawlins coming, you 84 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: walked the other way. Nineteen fifty one, New York City. 85 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: His nerves were shot, his pockets were empty. He stood 86 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: in the aisle of the city bus, holding out of 87 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: the step and quickly found his mark, a square, middle 88 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: aged r on her way home from work, standing next 89 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: to him, pocketbooks slung around her shoulder. He made eye 90 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 1: contact with the guys standing on the woman's other side, 91 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:45,679 Speaker 1: and he waited for the bus to make a wide turn. 92 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,479 Speaker 1: As it did, he pretended to lose his balance and 93 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: stumbled into her. Excuse me, I'm sorry, mamba, you all right? 94 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: And he grabbed under her arms to steady the both 95 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: of them, And as he did this, the other guy 96 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:00,720 Speaker 1: stuck his hand inside her pocket book and relieved her 97 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:05,160 Speaker 1: of her purse. Sonny Rawlins and his fellow Pickpocketer got off. 98 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: At the next stop, they examined their spoils. Ten bucks 99 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: good enough to cop a bag of dope, which if 100 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: they split it would maybe last them half the week, 101 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: and by then Sonny would be playing another session for 102 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 1: Prestige Records, which meant more money for more dope. Sonny 103 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 1: Rawlins was just twenty one years old, still young, still green. 104 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: He had a brand new record deal. Those motherfuckers of 105 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: Prestige barely paid enough for your next fix. And that's 106 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: why they called Prestige the junkies label, because they always 107 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: kept you coming back, and Sonny needed to come back, 108 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: just like Sonny needed to steal money from Marks on 109 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: the bus. Because just like Miles and Charlie Parker, just 110 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: like so many others, Sonny Rawlins was deep into a 111 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: heroin addiction. At first, the addiction was music. It was 112 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: Louis Jordan playing three sets a night at the Elks 113 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: Rendezvous and Harlem Coleman Hawkins with Body and Soul, a 114 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: hell of a tune for sure, But Coleman was cool 115 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: as shit. He wore nice clothes and drove fancy cars, 116 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: and that made an impression on young Sonny rowns. His 117 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: mom got him a horn, and he practiced in his 118 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,559 Speaker 1: closet where he wouldn't bother anyone. He taught himself to play, 119 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: taught himself to be cool as shit, even though he 120 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: was underage. He had a friend and Felonious Monk more 121 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: like an older brother thirteen years as senior Monk snuck 122 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: Sonny into the clubs on fifty second Street. That was 123 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: another lesson. On fifty second Street, you could watch god's 124 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:42,959 Speaker 1: play right in front of you. Gods like Charlie Parker. 125 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: Bird Bird was a prophet. He played and you listened, 126 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: and everyone did what Bird did. Bird played fast, so 127 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 1: you played fast. Bird walked funny, so you walked funny. 128 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: Bird shot dope, so you shot dope too. Heroin came 129 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: to her Carlem in nineteen forty eight, the same year 130 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: that the Long Playing Album came to the record industry. 131 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:08,959 Speaker 1: Both of those things had a profound effect on jazz. 132 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: Longer records meant more space for the music, which had 133 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,320 Speaker 1: moved beyond jump and swaying into bebop and longer improvisation. 134 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 1: But dope was the opposite of bebop. Where bebop was fast, 135 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:27,839 Speaker 1: dope was slow. But it was also powerful, so powerful 136 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:31,439 Speaker 1: that Sonny Rawlins would do anything to get more of it. 137 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: Kenny drew put the pistol in Sonny's hand. This wasn't 138 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:41,560 Speaker 1: how he usually did it. Sonny was the guy who 139 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,320 Speaker 1: distracted the mark, not the one who waved the gun 140 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,080 Speaker 1: and shouted orders. But they were going to need it, 141 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 1: Kenny told him, at least for show. Kenny was one 142 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 1: of the best piano players in town. Sonny trusted him 143 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 1: in the studio, and he trusted him on this too. 144 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: Lifting verses from women on the bus wasn't cutting it anymore. 145 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:06,680 Speaker 1: Sonny needed bigger scores. Bigger scores meant bigger risks. Sonny, Kenny, 146 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 1: and a mutual friend climbed into a taxi cab and 147 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:12,440 Speaker 1: they had the driver stop at fifty ninth in Lexington. 148 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: The plan was to find a place that was open 149 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,440 Speaker 1: and empty, maybe Midtown or the ever east Side, robbed 150 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 1: the mcgunpoint, split the cash and get a fix. And 151 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: they barely made it out of the cab when a 152 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:27,560 Speaker 1: voice spoke behind them, what do you think you're doing? 153 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: Son Sonny felt the hand on his back and he 154 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: knew it was a cop. He also knew the cop 155 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:36,199 Speaker 1: didn't need a reason. Three black men getting out of 156 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: a cab on a street corner after midnight was all 157 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: the reason the white cop needed. They didn't fight, it 158 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: didn't argue about whether or not the needles on the 159 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 1: floor of the cab were theirs, because they'd already lost 160 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:50,439 Speaker 1: this one, at least Sonny had. The cop pulled the 161 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 1: gun from Sonny's pocket. What's this shit? He shouldn't have 162 00:10:55,520 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 1: fucked around. No gun down at the detention center. His 163 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 1: gut felt rotten. There was pounding in his veins, cold 164 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 1: sweat on his face, panic attack maybe, or just to 165 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: Jones for more junk. His body began to tremble, and 166 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:15,160 Speaker 1: then it shook violently. One cop called another for backup, 167 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 1: but they couldn't hold him. That meant subjugation, That meant 168 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:26,439 Speaker 1: extreme force, That meant a straight jacket. He was calmer 169 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:30,839 Speaker 1: in the courtroom, cool collected. He was no longer strapped up. 170 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: He didn't look crazy, he didn't have a rap sheet, 171 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 1: and he hadn't actually fired the gun. The judge saw 172 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:41,320 Speaker 1: something different. The judge saw an addict with a loaded weapon, 173 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: a menace to society. The judge called it armed robbery. 174 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: So in early nineteen fifty two, Sonny Rawlins didn't get 175 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: to read all the good press he was finally receiving 176 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: for his music, nor did he hear that Miles Davis 177 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: wanted him for a prestigious gig at Birdland. Because Sonny 178 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,360 Speaker 1: Rawlins was on that four hundred acre penal colony in 179 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: the middle of the East River, doing one to three 180 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:34,200 Speaker 1: years on Rikers Island up on the Williamsburg Bridge. The 181 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:38,320 Speaker 1: wind howled, the gloves on his fingers barely provided comfort, 182 00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 1: and he was cold, and he had a piss. But 183 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,559 Speaker 1: Sunny Rawins was a monk. Every second of every day 184 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:50,959 Speaker 1: spent in prayer. Sonny Rawlins was a samurai hours at 185 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: a time, repeating the same motif on his horn. He 186 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:58,040 Speaker 1: got in the reps, and the reps built strength and stamina. 187 00:13:00,679 --> 00:13:05,560 Speaker 1: Life went on, Miles train monk. They all kept playing 188 00:13:05,559 --> 00:13:09,760 Speaker 1: and recording and doing their thing. Sonny's wife, Lucille worked 189 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: a secretarial job to keep the lights on, and god 190 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: knows they couldn't rely on Sonny's royalty checks alone, because 191 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: even though this was work up here for six, eight, 192 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: even twelve hours a day every day, it didn't pay. 193 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:30,800 Speaker 1: The hardest work never does A year had passed since 194 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:34,000 Speaker 1: Sonny Rawins first climbed the stairs of the Williamsburg Bridge 195 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: and began to practice. A year without gigs, a year 196 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,319 Speaker 1: without the money that came from those gigs. I'm talking 197 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,840 Speaker 1: two grand a week easy. That's equivalent to twenty thousand 198 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:49,400 Speaker 1: dollars today per week, no shit. And he gave up 199 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: that kind of living, in the kind of lifestyle for 200 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:54,319 Speaker 1: a whole year in counting, just so that he could 201 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 1: pursue artistic excellence. And that's what it was all about, 202 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: getting out of that scene and then getting above it, 203 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: not just musically but literally. Temptations were too much like dope, 204 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,920 Speaker 1: but dope was in the past. Despite what someone're saying, 205 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:14,680 Speaker 1: Sonny wasn't up on that bridge to kick heroin. He'd 206 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 1: already done that. Sonny was up on that bridge to 207 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: kick another bad habit. Stay away from Charlie Parker and 208 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: stay away from Sonny Rawlins. In nineteen fifty two, that 209 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 1: kind of advice was appreciated, but not surprising because although 210 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: Sonny Rawlins was out of Rikers, having served only ten 211 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: months for getting busted with Kenny Drew's gun, he wasn't rehabilitated. 212 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: Rikers was an overcrowded mess of junkies, thieves, murderers, and rapists. 213 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 1: The Rikers didn't rehabilitate shit. Rikers reinforced who you already 214 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: were and the person you were quickly becoming. Sonny Rowins 215 00:14:57,080 --> 00:14:59,600 Speaker 1: went in a junkie, and Sonny Rawlins came out of 216 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:03,160 Speaker 1: a junk He was still a thief, but his code 217 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 1: had changed. It wasn't just squares who were marks anymore. 218 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: Anyone was fair game. So most cats kept their distance. 219 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: They didn't want to work with Sonny, let alone get 220 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: within arm's reach. Fellow junkies, however, were a different story. 221 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 1: Miles Davis didn't pick pockets, but Miles pinned women, and 222 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 1: Miles played that desperation game. Charlie Parker Bird, he was 223 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 1: desperation in Karnate, the legendary player that god, the prophet, 224 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:38,320 Speaker 1: now nothing more than a pariah, strung out, nodding off, 225 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: banned from stepping inside Birdland, the jazz club that was 226 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: named after him. Bird was the reason so many players, 227 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: like Sonny he got turned on to heroin. Bird couldn't 228 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: help but feel responsible for their addictions, and if he 229 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: couldn't offer them a cure, the least he could do 230 00:15:56,040 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: was offer them a gig. Bird hired Sonny and Miles 231 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: for a session. Byrd asked Sonny point blank if he 232 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 1: had finally kicked the habit. Sonny lied and told him 233 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: he had. That's good, Bird said, But Sonny saw the 234 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: way Bird looked at him. For the rest of the session, 235 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: Bird knew Sonny was full of shit. Bird was disappointed, insulted. 236 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: Even he didn't talk to Sonny after that, not even 237 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: when Sonny pulled the kind of arrogant bullshit he was 238 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: known for. When he took his solo quoted the melody 239 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: from Irving Berlin's anything you can do, I can do better, 240 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: the student wagging his tongue at the master, just like dope. 241 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: This was what Sonny perceived to be the path to greatness, 242 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 1: a total lack of humility, total arrogance. The New York 243 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: City clubs didn't care if Sonny was arrogant or not. 244 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: His cabaret car had been revoked back when he was arrested. 245 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:55,040 Speaker 1: In the nineteen fifties, jazz musicians were required to have 246 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: a cabaret card in order to perform live. If you 247 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: were convicted of a crime, that card was taken away. 248 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 1: As punishment, and no one would look the other way 249 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:08,440 Speaker 1: and hire you because NYPD enforced the law and club 250 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: owners didn't want to risk their plays getting shut down 251 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:15,360 Speaker 1: for her junkie. The law targeted jazz players because jazz 252 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:18,840 Speaker 1: was only performed in quote unquote cabarets and not in 253 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,879 Speaker 1: the places where the upper crust congregated. Jazz consisting mostly 254 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:27,359 Speaker 1: of black players and the upper crust being exclusively white, 255 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:32,200 Speaker 1: cabaret cards were bullshit. Sonny Rawlins knew this. It wasn't 256 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 1: just about his right to make an honest living. It 257 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,879 Speaker 1: was about as right as a human being. Even worse, 258 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: if he wanted to get the card back, he had 259 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:45,200 Speaker 1: to debase himself further, not through official channels, through back doors, 260 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 1: under the table, off site. Sonny approached the guy at 261 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,600 Speaker 1: the agreed upon meeting spot, blocks away from the precinct, 262 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:01,080 Speaker 1: flat top, haircut, glasses, white shirt, khakis, total herb. He 263 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:05,320 Speaker 1: wasn't wearing a uniform, but he screamed nark. Sonny approached 264 00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: him cautiously, and the alleyway was far enough off the 265 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:10,880 Speaker 1: beaten path that anything could happen and no one would 266 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: be the wiser, Not that anyone would give a fuck 267 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,919 Speaker 1: about a dead horn player. The plane closed, cop cocked 268 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: his head slightly. You bring the money, Rollins. Sonny pulled 269 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:23,760 Speaker 1: the twenty from his pocket and tried to look casual 270 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: as he slipped it into the CoP's hand. This is it, 271 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,199 Speaker 1: Come on, man, that's all I got. Sonny pleaded, that 272 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 1: was bullshit. He had more cash, but he also needed 273 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 1: another fixed pronto. The cop just shook his head. I'll 274 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 1: take this for now, but there's something else you gotta 275 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: do for me. Some friends of mine at City Hall 276 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: really want to see this new Broadway show. I need 277 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:45,679 Speaker 1: you to buy them some tickets and then go to 278 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:48,240 Speaker 1: this place on Chambers Street and hand deliver them. Do 279 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: that for me, and I'll consider letting you get back 280 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: to work. Bribing cops and city officials was not sustainable. 281 00:18:56,359 --> 00:18:59,560 Speaker 1: Neither was the constant harassment from his parole officer, who 282 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 1: bugs on me constantly about getting a nine to five job, 283 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:06,639 Speaker 1: about living like a regular person, not a junkie. But 284 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: Sonny Rawlins was a junkie. He was deeper into the 285 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,199 Speaker 1: stuff now than he'd never been before, and if he 286 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 1: was busted again that would mean a much longer second bid. 287 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:20,640 Speaker 1: Back at the Rock, There was one option. However, if 288 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,640 Speaker 1: Sonny turned himself into the police for a parole violation, 289 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: the mac sentence he could catch was ninety days. He 290 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: knew it wasn't a matter of if he'd get busted again. 291 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:34,040 Speaker 1: It was just a matter of when he thought about 292 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:38,240 Speaker 1: his idol, Charlie Parker nodding off in the studio, barely 293 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,679 Speaker 1: coherent one moment, and disgusted with his legacy the next, 294 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 1: the legacy of doper acolytes like Sonny. Sonny Rawins was 295 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:51,439 Speaker 1: determined to avoid the same fate. In March of nineteen 296 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:55,920 Speaker 1: fifty four, after seventeen months on the outside, Sonny went 297 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,239 Speaker 1: to the police and confessed that he had violated his 298 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,199 Speaker 1: parole by getting high, and he was sent back to 299 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:08,679 Speaker 1: Rikers once again. Prison was no different than the street 300 00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:13,040 Speaker 1: there regards to bribe pushers, to befriend corruption, to navigate 301 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: It was just ninety days. He could do this. Sunny 302 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 1: blocked it all out like it was a kid all 303 00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: over again, inside the closet of his bedroom, blowing his 304 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,120 Speaker 1: horn in solitude. He made nice with the prison chaplain 305 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:30,200 Speaker 1: played Sunday morning hymns at the chapel on a horn 306 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: donated by the Salvation Army, and he practiced. He wrote 307 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: while at Rikers. That second time, he composed three songs Ergan, 308 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:45,000 Speaker 1: Doxy and Olio, all of which would later become jazz standards. 309 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:49,480 Speaker 1: The incarcerated world spun around him in its violent deprevity, 310 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 1: and when his ninety days were up, Sonny Ronalds knew 311 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 1: he'd be stepping right back into a world of temptation 312 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:58,359 Speaker 1: and vice. It was a vicious cycle, a cycle he 313 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:06,800 Speaker 1: needed to break, a sickness he needed to cure. Down 314 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,520 Speaker 1: a long hallway inside a secluded room on a wing 315 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,760 Speaker 1: of the Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, a 316 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 1: patient was given a small cup of water to drink. 317 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 1: The patient thought the liquid contained medicine as part of 318 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,199 Speaker 1: a trial to find a cure for schizophrenia. That's what 319 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,240 Speaker 1: he signed up for, at least, or what the patient 320 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,360 Speaker 1: didn't know was that the water was dosed with LSD 321 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 1: and that he was an unwitting participant in a top 322 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:38,160 Speaker 1: secret government experiment. Sonny Rawlins didn't know anything about mk Ultra. 323 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:41,520 Speaker 1: No one did. No One at the Public Health Service 324 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:45,359 Speaker 1: Hospital aka and the Narcotic Farm aka Narco, or simply 325 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 1: the Farm, knew that the US government was using human 326 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: beings as guinea pigs to test the long term effects 327 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:56,919 Speaker 1: of LSD. Guys like Sonny were at the farm to 328 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 1: take the quote unquote cure Dolophinedwen you are junk ten 329 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: to fourteen days of detox, followed by four months in 330 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: the general population. The Lexington facility was famous for getting 331 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:12,960 Speaker 1: many jazz musicians off dope. Dexter Gordon, check Baker, Elvin Jones, 332 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: Lee Morgan, even Sammy Davis Junior all took the cure 333 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:19,879 Speaker 1: at the farm. At one point, Sonny was at the 334 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:23,919 Speaker 1: farm when he heard the news Charlie Parker was dead, 335 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,479 Speaker 1: only thirty four years old, but his junkie lifestyle had 336 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: been so rough the coroner pegged him for sixty. Sonny 337 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: mourned Bird's death. He still wanted to be like his 338 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,399 Speaker 1: one time mentor, but now only in the way he played. 339 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: Because now Sonny was clean, he was no junkie, and 340 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:45,160 Speaker 1: he was determined to stay that way. Things would be different. 341 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: Bird was dead, Sonny was born anew and nothing would 342 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:57,199 Speaker 1: ever be the same again. We'll be right back after this. 343 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: We're we're we're. The term shedding as in wood shedding, 344 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:11,919 Speaker 1: as in you've got to get outside yourself, your routine 345 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:14,040 Speaker 1: and go out to the proverbial woodshed to work on 346 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: your craft refers to the time an artist takes to 347 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,920 Speaker 1: practice to grow to hone new material and with any 348 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,399 Speaker 1: luck level up. Perhaps you do this at a shed 349 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,639 Speaker 1: out in the woods, hence the woodshed thing. And you 350 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,800 Speaker 1: can imagine that said woodshed is where all that chopped 351 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:33,680 Speaker 1: wood is kept, hence the other saying great chops, as 352 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 1: in that horn player has great chops. Okay, that last 353 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:39,040 Speaker 1: part isn't true. I really wanted it to be true. 354 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: For a minute. I was like, great chops, chop wood, 355 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:42,680 Speaker 1: and I thought I was onto something. But the slank 356 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: chops in actuality refers to a horn player's jaw or mouth. 357 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,960 Speaker 1: But I digress. When Sunny Rawls decided it was timed 358 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,199 Speaker 1: a woodshed, he sequestered himself not in a shed in 359 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,800 Speaker 1: the woods, but up on the Williamsburg Bridge overlooking the 360 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:00,920 Speaker 1: East River in New York City. He was up there 361 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: just about every single day for two years, rain or shine, 362 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,160 Speaker 1: hot or cold, hiding in plain sight, hyper focused on 363 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:12,600 Speaker 1: one thing to get better. Getting better wasn't just about 364 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: refining his own sound in the face of his peers 365 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:18,199 Speaker 1: and innovations, and it wasn't just about distancing himself from 366 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: a life of drugs and crime. Sonny Rawlins was on 367 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 1: that bridge to make a life change because he nearly 368 00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:32,120 Speaker 1: died on the streets below. The old radio in Sunny Rowlands' 369 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:37,239 Speaker 1: apartment crackled breaking news from midtown from Birdland, but not 370 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 1: from inside Birdland, from outside Birdland. It was August twenty fifth, 371 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine, around midnight. NYPD had just beat the 372 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: shit out of Miles Davis for the offense of standing outside, 373 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,679 Speaker 1: for smoking on the sidewalk, for refusing to move along 374 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: at his own gig. Sonny felt sick to his stomach 375 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,240 Speaker 1: as he listened to the DJ details of Vicious All. 376 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:03,720 Speaker 1: Sonny had remained clean after his time at the firm, 377 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:06,720 Speaker 1: so he and Miles no longer bonded over getting a fix. 378 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: But Myles remained a friend, a champion of Sonny's playing. 379 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 1: And an attack on a friend, an attack on a 380 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,760 Speaker 1: fellow horn player, It was an attack on Sonny, an 381 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:21,119 Speaker 1: attack on all of them. Sonny sprang into action. He 382 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,679 Speaker 1: grabbed a starter pistol from a desk drawer, just a 383 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 1: tiny thing loaded with blanks, nothing like the one he'd 384 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: used with Kenny Drew years ago. It was necessary, necessary 385 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 1: to show the cops he was serious, fucking NYPG. They'd 386 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,000 Speaker 1: put him in a straight jacket, revoked his cabaret card, 387 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:39,360 Speaker 1: shipped him off to rikers like he was a junkie nobody. 388 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,160 Speaker 1: He ran out the door of his apartment in a flash, 389 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:44,920 Speaker 1: hailed a cab and the attacks. He shot off into 390 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 1: the night, up FDR Drive in the nocturnal glow of 391 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:52,199 Speaker 1: passing headlights, like blood coursing through a vein. Sonny can 392 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,119 Speaker 1: only imagine how bad the scene would be when he 393 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,639 Speaker 1: got there, the blood running down Myles's head, ruining his 394 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:01,879 Speaker 1: pristine white suit, taking his defiant rap while the cops 395 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,040 Speaker 1: swung their nightsticks some more police loved it when he 396 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,119 Speaker 1: mouthed off to them. A crowd would gather, some with 397 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: horror and disgust on their faces, others with that sanctimonious 398 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:14,600 Speaker 1: look in their eyes, and the look that said jazz 399 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,520 Speaker 1: was deplorable and led to scenes like this one, to 400 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: bloodshed and fear. The motherfucker brought it on himself. All 401 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,040 Speaker 1: that shit, Sonny shook with anger. He stuck his hand 402 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:27,679 Speaker 1: in his pocket he felt the starter pistol, and he 403 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:30,359 Speaker 1: told the Cabby to high tailing. He was time to 404 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:35,960 Speaker 1: get his hands sturdy. For nearly four years, Sonny Rawlins 405 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,880 Speaker 1: had been living with clean life, the life championed by 406 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 1: guys like Max Roach and Clifford Brown, jazz musicians who 407 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:44,159 Speaker 1: proved you didn't have to shoot up to be a 408 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:48,399 Speaker 1: good player. In fact, you were better without dope. Sonny 409 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:50,840 Speaker 1: channeled the newfound freedom into one of the most prolific 410 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:54,240 Speaker 1: stretches of his career. From nineteen fifty five to nineteen 411 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,520 Speaker 1: fifty nine, he released a string of classic albums as 412 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 1: a leader, Worktime, ten O, Maddening Saxophone, Colossus, Way Out West, 413 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:07,120 Speaker 1: Freedom Sweet, He played on Monks, Brilliant Corners, and all 414 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: Timer if there ever was one. He was named down 415 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:13,119 Speaker 1: the magazine's Tenor Player of the Year. He was better 416 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,119 Speaker 1: than ever. He was the greatest, and he didn't let 417 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:20,960 Speaker 1: anyone forget it. While recording the title track for Tenor Madness, 418 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:25,160 Speaker 1: which featured Sonny's old friend John Coltrane, Sonny was still 419 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,600 Speaker 1: pulling the kind of cocky immature Shitty pulled on that 420 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:31,520 Speaker 1: session with Bird. In Sonny's eyes, he was the man 421 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,480 Speaker 1: and Train was just a kid, a hungry upstart, worshiping 422 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:38,400 Speaker 1: at the feet of the master. Sonny laid back while 423 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: trained blue heart. Sonny barely tried. He could do this 424 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,479 Speaker 1: with both eyes closed, and the two players traded force, 425 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,960 Speaker 1: and then Sonny fucked with Train, just for show. Train 426 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,160 Speaker 1: played a lick and Sonny flipped it around and played 427 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: the lick back and reverse. Train felt the heat. Every 428 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 1: tenor player felt the heat coming from Sonny Rawins, possibly 429 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:02,159 Speaker 1: the most incisive and influential jazz instrumentalists since Charlie Parker. 430 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,719 Speaker 1: And that's a quote from The New Yorker. At the time, 431 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,440 Speaker 1: Train knew he had to do something different, played with sheer, 432 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:12,359 Speaker 1: passion and force, sheets of sound. Sonny didn't know what 433 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:14,240 Speaker 1: the hell he was hearing. When Train started to make 434 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:17,920 Speaker 1: that shift. It confused him. That confusion, in turn made 435 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,400 Speaker 1: him frustrated, and then he Sonny Rawlins was the one 436 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,320 Speaker 1: feeling the heat. Train was on his way to some 437 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,000 Speaker 1: interstellar region. But that wasn't the only heat. Sunny Rawlins 438 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,639 Speaker 1: felt there was more than was emanating from a club 439 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 1: in Manhattan. The cab pulled over at sixteen seventy eight Broadway, 440 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 1: Sonny hopped out. He pulled the starter pistol from his pocket. 441 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,840 Speaker 1: He was ready for anything, ready to stand his ground 442 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 1: and defend his friend. But the sidewalk outside Birdland was empty. 443 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:54,600 Speaker 1: Miles was gone, and so were the cops. All there 444 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: was left were dark patches of blood on the pavement. 445 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: Sonny stared down at all of Myles's blood, and suddenly 446 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: the sick to his stomach feeling came back. Only this 447 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:07,760 Speaker 1: time it wasn't because of what had happened, but because 448 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 1: of what didn't happen. What the hell was he thinking 449 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,960 Speaker 1: rushing down to Birdland with a pistol in his hand. 450 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 1: The cops wouldn't know it was loaded with blanks. They 451 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:19,840 Speaker 1: would have taken one look at Sonny and it would 452 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: have been over all of it shit. They beat Myles 453 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,520 Speaker 1: Davis till he bled for standing there for nothing more 454 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 1: than the crime of being black and playing jazz. Just 455 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:29,120 Speaker 1: imagine what they would have done to Sonny with a 456 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: fucking piece in his hand. He shuddered at the thought. 457 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: He shuddered at the scene. In a matter of months, 458 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: he left that scene behind as he made his way 459 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,120 Speaker 1: over to Delancey Street and climbed the steps of the 460 00:29:41,120 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 1: Williamsburg Bridge for the first time. Sunny Rawlins began his 461 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,720 Speaker 1: descent with a flashlight in one hand and his tenor 462 00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: sacks in the other. It was dark and he could 463 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 1: barely see. He kept moving. He'd been up here for 464 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:24,480 Speaker 1: a day and a half, now hyper focused once again, 465 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:31,360 Speaker 1: practicing scales, melodies, snippets of old standards, anything that passed 466 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: the time, anything to take his mind off of what 467 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: was going on around him. Around him was chaos, not 468 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,719 Speaker 1: the usual chaos. It was smoke and fire, a cloud 469 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:47,760 Speaker 1: of toxic dust slowly blanketing New York City. He saw 470 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 1: it with his own two eyes, but not from up 471 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 1: on the bridge. He was in his apartment on the 472 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: thirty ninth floor when it happened. No power, no contact, 473 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: no way out, and no way of knowing who alive 474 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: and who was dead. It was around thirty six hours 475 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: later when the National Guard evacuated the building. Sonny held 476 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:10,480 Speaker 1: the flashlight in front of him as he walked down 477 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: all thirty nine flights all the way to the ground 478 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: floor outside on the street, just six blocks from the 479 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: World Trade Center, or at least the spot where the 480 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: World Trade Center used to be. Both towers were now 481 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:30,120 Speaker 1: just rubble and smoke. Sonny boarded an evacuation bus, the 482 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:33,600 Speaker 1: Mark six in his hand. He never went anywhere without 483 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:38,680 Speaker 1: his horn. The horn was it. It was practice, discipline, 484 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:43,040 Speaker 1: It was a completion of the circle. The person on 485 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 1: stage and off, the person up on the bridge and 486 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:49,360 Speaker 1: up in that apartment. They were one and the same. 487 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: When he left the Williamsburg Bridge for the last time, 488 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 1: exactly four decades earlier in nineteen sixty one, Sonny had 489 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: been missing from the jazz scene for two years. When 490 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:08,320 Speaker 1: he returned, John Coltrane was now the saxophone colossus. That 491 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: meant the pressure was off. Sogning no longer worried about 492 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,320 Speaker 1: what other people thought about him anyway, and the only 493 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: person he wanted to be the best for was himself. Plus, 494 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,880 Speaker 1: demand for Sonny Rawlins was at an all time high. 495 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,800 Speaker 1: He picked up gigs immediately. He signed a ninety thousand 496 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:29,480 Speaker 1: dollars six album deal with RCA Records, a huge deal 497 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: for a jazz musician and the biggest deal RCA had 498 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:35,960 Speaker 1: ever given a black artist at the time. More important 499 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: than a record deal, though, was how he was now playing. 500 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 1: It wasn't at all like he played before. That's not 501 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 1: to say he no longer sounded like Sonny Rawlins because 502 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:48,960 Speaker 1: he did. But all that practice, that focus, that time alone, 503 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 1: all the tapping into something bigger is something up with 504 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 1: the clouds that you can't see with the human eye, 505 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:57,640 Speaker 1: but you knew was there. It changed him. He wasn't 506 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 1: playing that arrogant shit anymore. Like he pulled on burd 507 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 1: and train. He was humble, he was pious. He played 508 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:06,800 Speaker 1: not like who he was, but like the person he 509 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:10,600 Speaker 1: wanted to be. And over the ensuing years he continued 510 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 1: to practice, to play, to get better and became that person. 511 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,000 Speaker 1: Parker laid the groundwork, and Coltrane went interstellar, and Burnett 512 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,160 Speaker 1: went way out and Dexter Gordon had toned for days. 513 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:26,840 Speaker 1: All of those guys are giants in their own right. Sonny, however, 514 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:31,720 Speaker 1: is the master. He's been called the greatest living improviser. 515 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,680 Speaker 1: A petition has been brought before New York City Council 516 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: to rename the Williamsburg Bridge in his honor. But in 517 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:42,440 Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, at the age of eighty four, Sonny Rawlins 518 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:46,640 Speaker 1: was forced to stop playing altogether due to pulmonary fibrosis, 519 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 1: a disease that leads long tissue damaged and scarred. Now 520 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:55,480 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three, at ninety two years old, Sonny 521 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: has outlived Miles, Trained, Monk Byrd and all the other 522 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 1: major jazz players that he came up with. His cultural 523 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 1: impact is massive. He has left us with great music. 524 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:11,279 Speaker 1: He is the consummate ambassador of jazz. But he can 525 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:16,480 Speaker 1: no longer practice, and in Sonny Rawlins's eyes, practicing was 526 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,560 Speaker 1: a never ending journey, the journey he was not allowed 527 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,759 Speaker 1: to finish, and thus he never achieved the level of 528 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:28,680 Speaker 1: personal satisfaction that he chased for decades. I dedicated my 529 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,600 Speaker 1: life to music, he said, and I never got it 530 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:35,640 Speaker 1: to where I wanted to be. In that, this is 531 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:55,040 Speaker 1: a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan in this this Disgraceland. Disgraceland 532 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:57,640 Speaker 1: was created by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership 533 00:34:57,680 --> 00:35:00,400 Speaker 1: with Double Elvis. 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