Chords for Sonny Rollins: What Jazz Is, and What Being a Jazz Musician Means To Me

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[C] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Cm] _ _ [Gm] _
With all these [Bm] obstacles and all [D] the difficult things we go through in life, music is there to [Eb] help.
_ [Ab] _ _ [Db] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ [N] _ I'm just getting rolling now, don't make it the final question.
Come on, let's go.
_ _ _ _ _ Hi, I'm Brett Premack.
Welcome to Sonny Speaks, an ongoing documentary series celebrating the 80th birthday of the
saxophone colossus, Sonny Rollins.
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
Jazz [F] transcends life and [D] death as we know it on this planet.
[Em] _ You see, jazz is [A] something which is _ [G] _ [D] more _ [G] universal, _
[C] eternal.
_ So [Bb] it has, [C] you [Am] say, optimistic about, well, [G] I'm optimistic that, [C] I'm optimistic about,
_ _ [D] _ _
[Dm] _ this is funny, [Am] [G] I'm [C] optimistic about _ _ [E] the soul, [G] okay?
I'm [D] optimistic about that.
So therefore, [Em] I'm optimistic about [A] jazz. _ _ _
_ _ [Dm] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ [Bbm] _ [Eb] Well, jazz is a force [Ab] of nature, it's a feeling, [Cm] _ it's a sense of liberation, _ [G] sense of [Fm] communing
with [F] nature, with higher [Db] _ [Bb] things.
That's what it is for me.
For some people, it's a sense of [Gm] abandon.
_ [Ab]
That's why you see [Eb] people, some people [Ab] listen to jazz, they want to dance.
_ [D] That's an element of it.
But [Em] you know, people go to [A] church and they also [Am] have a sense of abandon.
[F] And they dance and [G] everything. _
I'm [C] saying that because [Dm] people that want to detract from jazz [G] would say that, oh, it's
abandon, that [C] means you're doing something evil.
Okay, so, _ [F] not necessarily so.
[Gb] _ So I [Em] use the word abandon, [A] a sense of abandon, in the [C] sense that you could [G] abandon yourself
to the Lord when you're in a sanctified [Am] church or someplace.
So it's [Ab] that kind of [E] abandon.
It's an [G] abandon [Ab] of _ [C] _ spirit.
So that's part of it.
[A] It's a sense [Dm] of hope that [Em] life can be better, that things [C] can be better.
It's a sense of happiness where things, wow, this is great.
[Gb] That's some of [E] what jazz is. _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[Am] I play jazz probably [D] because in a _ [Bm] former [E] existence, [G] _ _
I [Em] might have been a musician.
_ [Dm] _ _
And [C] so that when I was born, _ _ _ _ [Ab] I was already [F] really attuned [D] to jazz.
I [E] heard, as I said, when I was in the crib almost, [Gb] I [A] was listening to Fats Waller.
And I [Dm] know Fats Waller from [G] _ _ [C] earliest memories.
I can think about Fats Waller.
_ [C] And _ _ [Fm] _
it [Eb] imbued me with [Ab] joy.
So I think not only did I like jazz, a [Cm] lot of people like jazz, but I think [B] I had an
[G] extra _ [B] pull from [Ebm] wherever to become a musician, [Eb] to want to do [Bbm] it.
[Ab] Now, I was also artistically inclined.
I [F] liked to draw.
I liked to do watercolor [D] paintings.
_ [E] _ _ And [F] so I was artistically [C] inclined.
So that might be [G] part of also my former [C] existence, whatever. _
I came out this [Eb] time as an artist.
[Dm] _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ [F] How do [C] I bring myself up?
How do I get to a [F] high place _ [Gbm] whenever I solo, [Ab] whenever I [Em] perform?
That's [E] always, _ [A] you know, _ [D] _ _
there's no [Em] way.
If you have an antagonist [C] next to you, in a way, it's [G] easier in a sense because [D] it's
going to push you. _
[Dm] But if you're by [C] yourself, as you say, [A] well, _ _ _ and without another instrument, [Gb] I think about
that the other day, I [G] was talking to somebody _ about [C] something and we were saying, I explained
to them, well, _ Gene Ammons, [G] a great saxophone player, he was playing with the [F] quartet.
[B] _ Dexter Gordon played.
I [Eb] mean, a lot of guys play with, [D] they didn't always [E] play with another instrument next to
them on the front line. _ _
_ [D] So you have to bring yourself up. _
Now how, well, _ I don't know how.
[A] You just [Gb] realize that you want [D] to sound good. _
_ [A] _ You don't want [G] to sound bad.
You want to try to elevate the music.
And so you do what you can do.
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