They say that you should expose your unborn baby to music. They say that she will associate the sounds with happiness and allow you to bond with her in a special way.
On Thursday night we exposed our little girl to the improv jazz stylings of Sonny Rollins out in Berkeley. Sonny Rollins, for those of you who are not Jazz Purists like Alex and I are, is probably the most legendary jazz saxophonist around. He’s 80 years old, so he has the necessary credibility. In his earlier years he was playing and collaborating with Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk, so he has the connections. And he can play.
The old man took the stage at the Zellerbach Auditorium accompanied by a bassist, drummer, percussionist and guitarist. He stood out the front, shuffled around in his big red smock, wild silver hair and beard. The band took a back seat physically, but not surprisingly were given their chance to shine through long solos.
The music was mostly jazz. Not standards, and sounded updated from what you would have heard in a 1950’s Harlem gig where he started out. It even drifted into Samba for one of the songs. Though the songs changed tempo, they all shared a similar style, with Sonny repeating a saxophone riff while the band worked off him. As I said before, he can play. It didn’t sound like a wheezy 80 year old man blowing those notes. He did sound like a wheezy 80 year old man when he spoke, so it was best when he played.
The drummer was wild, his whole body moved to the rhythm as he played and he was grinning like a crazy man. I’ve rarely seen anyone get so into the music. The other band members, though amazing players, were much more subdued. Of note, the guitarist was able to fill in the whole sound with his playing which could sound like a piano, or more guitar-like with a George Benson-like tuning.
We don’t yet know if our baby gained from the experience, or whether she will grow up to be a virtuoso. Alex reports that she especially liked the bongos, so maybe she’ll just join a drum circle…