“I feel a little lost in our pop music world today where the art of melody has been lost,” says Steve Wilson. “Hopefully we can get that back.”
(Photo: Kevin Scanlon)Jun 23, 2026 1:44 PM
The primary exploration in saxophonist/flutist Steve Wilson’s creative evolution amounts to what he calls, “Melody keeps you very honest.” As one of the hardest working…
Sonny Rollins performing at the Chicago Jazz Festival in 1992
(Photo: Ronald Heard)May 26, 2026 11:21 AM
“Is this going to be another negative, punch-Sonny-Rollins-in-the-eye article for DownBeat?” the man asked with weary resignation as he plopped into a den chair. “Well, I agreed to do it. I know how it’s going to come out anyway. So, go ahead, ask me. I’m ready.”
It was a telephone interview. I imagined Sonny Rollins sitting there in his Hudson River Valley country home north of Rhinebeck, New York; sitting there in a nimbus of ennui waiting to be prodded and poked with an assortment of those unpleasant, blunt instruments we journalists…
