In my jazz days, I had heard of tenor saxophonist, Sonny Rollins, but — being more of an alto sax girl (Paul Desmond of the Dave Brubeck quartet was my hero!) — I never really tuned into him.
So I was fascinated to learn recently that Rollins — now in his late 80’s — has been practicing yoga and meditation since the mid-1960’s, even taking a sabbatical from performing in order to spend an extended period at an ashram in India!
Here at Ananda, we seek to offer ourselves and all we do in service to God and Gurus; as musician devotees we ask to serve as channels for their inspiration, doing our best to stay out of the way while trying to always remember that “God is the doer”.
Which is almost exactly how Sonny Rollins describes his approach as an improviser: “I’m not supposed to be playing, the music is supposed to be playing me. I’m just supposed to be standing there with the horn, moving my fingers. The music is supposed to be coming through me; that’s when it’s really happening.”
Universal truths.