Aidan Levy

I've been working on this book for the past seven years. It has been the honor of my professional life. It's a long one, but I think Sonny Rollins deserves the thick spine. Link to pre-order in the comments.

Our electeds can honor a great artist and New Yorker, and rename it the Sonny Rollins Williamsburg Bridge while he's still here to appreciate it.

“Sonny's Bridge,” Faith Ringgold (1930-2024), acrylic on cotton canvas, 1986

"One must aspire to the level at which one shall have completely and conclusively been convicted in the thought so as to be able to walk into the lion's den and demonstrate one's MASTERSHIP." From The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins, coming Apr 16 from NYRB Books.

RIP Albert “Tootie” Heath (1935-2024) 📸 Jan Persson/Getty Images, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1968 Sonny Rollins, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Kenny Drew, Tootie Heath

On Thursday April 4 from 12-2pm ET, Sonny Rollins' biographer Aidan Levy will join WKCR's Rachel Smith in a celebration of the 67th anniversary of the release of the album Saxophone Colossus. Listen live at cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/

“Everyone on this album is gone, but they’re more present than most living people.” @davidmyaffe on the new deep dive into Kind of Blue by @jckaplan.

Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Lester Young, Gene Krupa, and Art Blakey were Jeopardy clues last night in the “Jazz’ Great Day in Harlem” category. Champion Ben Chan went 4/5, but everyone was stumped by Blakey.

@Mark_Stryker The photographer is veteran journalist Marvin Scott, who in 1958 was an NYU student. He changed his name soon thereafter. When I called him, he had no idea that this or the other iconic photos from this series had been circulating for decades. pix11.com/author/marvin-….

Thelonious Monk by Quartet at The Five Spot with Sonny Rollins, Ahmed Abdul-Malik m, Roy Haynes. Five Spot, New September 1958. Photo by Marvin Oppenberg.

Following up on my hopes for 2024 - People: stop killing each other. We need to get a realization in our minds that this ancient way of life is now over. No more killing! –S.R.

Happy Centennial Birthday to Max Roach! Here's the drummer with Sonny Rollins, Kenny Dorham, Ray Bryant, and George Morrow, performing George Russell's "Ezz-thetic," released on the 1956 EmArcy album Max Roach + 4: youtube.com/watch?v=t-eyOR…

This week marks Max Roach’s 100th birthday. WKCR DJ and my former student Georgia Dillane asked if I could do an interview for a piece on the Freedom Now Suite for this month’s on-air guide. The centennial birthday broadcast ends tonight at midnight! issuu.com/wkcrfm/docs/on…

My wishes for the planet in 2024: No killing. No killing. Don't kill anyone, anywhere, for any reason. –S.R.

my list of 2023's best #music #journalism w/ @KarenAttiah @mykebartlett @eluzmi @adamfaze @nelsongeorge @Wren_Field @korygrow @MarcHogan @devonsaysrelax @aidan_levy @AmandaMarcotte @vurnt22 @jeffrosenstock + Patti Smith & Courtney Love rockcritics.com/2023/12/27/bes… via @RockCritics

@KocherGreg Thank you, @KocherGreg!

Thank you, ⁦⁦@aidan_levy⁩ for this definitive biography. It took six weeks for me to read it, but it was worth it. And I not only read it but listened to it as well: listening to his albums as each chapter revealed the stories and musicians behind them.

@Mark_Stryker Every once in a while the algorithm is syncopated. Jazz from Detroit gets pride of place on my shelf. Honored to be algorithmically associated with the great @Mark_Stryker.

Just looked up something on Amazon and the algorithm gave me these recommendations. cc: @aidan_levy

Aidan Levy’s award-winning biography ‘Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins’ is now available in paperback. bookshop.org/p/books/saxoph…

“My playing is my meditation": Sonny Rollins in conversation with David Sanborn (Part 2) wbgo.org/season-2/2023-…

Justin Desmangles with author Aidan Levy, winner of the 44th annual American Book Award for Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins, Sun. Oct. 1, 2023, San Francisco [photo by Johnnie Burrell] #AmericanBookAward #BeforeColumbusFoundation #SonnyRollins