So I went to Lexington and stayed there for the cure, which was four and a half months, and that was it-I was able to get off. I realized I had to get off this shit, man, if just for my idol. I could see the look in Bird’s face and boy that tore me down. And then somebody in the record session ratted on me and told him. He said, “Yeah Sonny, how are you doing?” And I said, “I’m straight.” And he was so happy, man. A lot of guys used drugs because of him, and he knew it. But the whole story is: I was recording with my hero Charlie Parker. It was just a bunch of criminals then, which now-it’s funny when I look at the way they are treating this, they have a name for it: “opioid.” It’s really funny to me how society operates. It was good, treating people and trying to get them off of drugs. I was fortunate because they had this place called Lexington, which was a narcotics rehabilitation place. But the second time, when I went back, I said, “God, I have to find a way to stay out of here.” But after I came out, I was still messing around. I was fortunate because there were some musicians in there and we had a clique. I know what it is now, but it was bad enough then. Then I came out, but I went back because I went back to drugs again during the parole period. But that wasn’t my thing-I was part of a group. I knew we needed money and that was the way to get it. That’s the first time I had a gun, actually. The wrong people have put on Wikipedia that Frank Sinatra came down, and it changed my life. Now, I think that was great, but that was not my introduction to civil rights. So he preached to the people that we shouldn’t fight with these kids, which was very helpful. So Frank Sinatra came down to our school and did a concert. The people in the area figured it was some black kids coming into their neighborhood, and there were a lot of fights-people were throwing stuff out the windows as we were getting out. We were met with a lot of hostility from the neighborhood. There was a new school opening up down in Italian Harlem, on 116th Street, off of the river. Through “Free the Scottsboro Boys.” Now fast forward to 1946, when they bussed us from where we lived on 175th Street. Anyway, when I was a little boy I used to walk in parades up and down Lenox Ave. My grandfather, her husband, was from Haiti, but my grandmother was from St. If I can play again, if I can get the medications, these new drugs, then fine, I’ll be able to play again. I’m 85 years old now, so there is nothing to be angry about. I’ve done what I’ve always wanted to do, which is music. I feel I haven’t quite gotten where I wanted to get to in my music. If I can play again, I’d like to play again. Sonny Rollins: I’ve come to terms with it. Settling in his spacious sitting room, Rollins told me in his melodious, sonorous voice, why he hadn’t been able to tour behind his two most recent albums: just over two years ago, he was diagnosed with respiratory issues, a diagnosis which caused him to feel, he said, “really depressed.” Outside, one is aware of sound-bird calls, rainwater dripping off the roof-because that has been Rollins’ job for over 60 years now: to make others aware of what he hears, and what the world gives, sonically. Rollins has lived in upstate New York, for over 15 years now-the move was precipitated by 9/11-and trees heavy with early spring leaves line the front of his house, which is secluded. Meeting some people can feel like entering a fairytale, and interviewing the 85-year-old Sonny Rollins recently had that quality, beginning with the woods. This story originally appeared in our print quarterly, The Pitchfork Review.
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