Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
Sonny Rollins’ new disc, Sonny, Please , is being released on his own Doxy label. The CD—his first studio recording in five years—will be distributed and marketed worldwide through a licensing agreement with Universal Classics & Jazz International.
“The business seemed to be going in the direction of artist-owned labels, so I made the leap,” Rollins said.
Sonny, Please was recorded shortly after the saxophonist’s sextet returned from a November 2005 Japanese tour.
“Anytime you do a string of performances, it tightens up the ensemble,” Rollins said. “And the band was playing very high powered. Toward the end of the tour, the group really began to come together and I began to be able to play much more fluently.”
For more information go to: sonnyrollins.com
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
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Each of the 25 JAMs has delivered a poster featuring a jazz legend that is sent out to schools across the nation. This year’s poster features Tony Bennett.
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Every April for the past quarter century, something remarkable has happened across the United States and far beyond.…