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2007-2025

Backgrounder: 'Sonny Rollins Plays for Bird,' 1957

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Marc Myers
May 05, 2023
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Sonny Rollins idolized Charlie Parker, as did all saxophonists in the late 1940s. But for Sonny, Parker was more of a mentor, someone to impress and seek his approval. Sonny achieved that in 1953, when he recorded with Parker and Miles Davis for Prestige. At the time, Parker was under contract to Norman Granz's Norgran label, so he recorded on tenor sax…

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