A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater (including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles), or struck, scraped or rubbed by hand, or struck against another similar instrument. The percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments.^[1]

The percussion section of an orchestra, however, traditionally contains in addition many instruments that are not, strictly speaking, percussion, such as whistles and sirens. On the other hand, keyboard instruments such as the celesta are not normally part of the percussion section, but keyboard percussion instruments (which do not have keyboards) are included.

Percussion instruments are most commonly divided into two classes: Tuned percussion instruments, which produce notes with an identifiable pitch, and untuned percussion instruments, which produce notes without an identifiable pitch.^[2][3]

Classification[link]

Hornbostel–Sachs has no high-level section for percussion. Most percussion instruments (as the term is normally understood) are classified as idiophones and membranophones. However the term percussion is instead used at the lower levels of the Hornbostel–Sachs hierarchy, including to identify instruments struck either with a non-sonorous object (hand, stick, striker) or against a non-sonorous object (human body, the ground) as opposed to concussion which refers to instruments in which two or more complementary sonorous parts are struck against each other, and for other purposes. For example:

111.1 Concussion idiophones or clappers, played in pairs and beaten against each other, such as zills and clapsticks.

111.2 Percussion idiophones, includes many percussion instruments played with the hand or by a percussion mallet, such as the hang, gongs and the xylophone, but not drums and only some cymbals.

21 Struck drums, includes most types of drum, such as the timpani and snare drum.

412.12 Percussion reeds, a class of wind instrument unrelated to percussion in the more common sense

There are many instruments that have some claim to being percussion, but are classified otherwise:

• Keyboard instruments such as the celesta and piano.^[4]
• Stringed instruments played with beaters such as the hammered dulcimer.
• Unpitched whistles and similar instruments, such as the pea whistle and Acme siren.

The word "percussion" has evolved from Latin terms: "percussio" (which translates as "to beat, strike" in the musical sense, rather than the violent action), and "percussus" (which is a noun meaning "a beating"). As a noun in contemporary English it is described in Wiktionary as "the collision of two bodies to produce a sound". The usage of the term is not unique to music but has application in medicine and weaponry, as in percussion cap, but all known and common uses of the word, "percussion", appear to share a similar lineage beginning with the original Latin: "percussus". In a musical context then, the term "percussion instruments" may have been coined originally to describe a family of musical instruments including drums, rattles, metal plates, or blocks which musicians would beat or strike (as in a collision) to produce sound.

Percussion beaters and sticks

History[link]

Anthropologists and historians often speculate that percussion instruments were the first musical devices ever created. The human voice was probably the first musical instrument, but percussion instruments such as hands and feet, then sticks and rocks, were in widespread use long before recorded musical history.

Function[link]

Percussion instruments may play not only rhythm, but also melody and harmony.

Percussion is commonly referred to as "the backbone" or "the heartbeat" of a musical ensemble, often working in close collaboration with bass instruments, when present. In jazz and other popular music ensembles, the pianist, bassist and the drummer are often referred to as the rhythm section. Most classical pieces written for full orchestra since the time of Haydn and Mozart are orchestrated to place emphasis on the strings, woodwinds, and brass. However, often at least one pair of timpani is included, though they rarely play continuously. Rather, they serve to provide additional accents when needed. In the 18th and 19th centuries, other percussion instruments (like the triangle or cymbals) have been used, again relatively sparingly in general. The use of percussion instruments became more frequent in the 20th century classical music.

In almost every style of music, percussion plays a pivotal role. In military marching bands and pipes and drums, it is the beat of the bass drum that keeps the soldiers in step and at a regular speed, and it is the snare that provides that crisp, decisive air to the tune of a regiment. In classic jazz, one almost immediately thinks of the distinctive rhythm of the hi-hats or the ride cymbal when the word "swing" is spoken. In more recent popular music culture, it is almost impossible to name three or four rock, hip-hop, rap, funk or even soul charts or songs that do not have some sort of percussive beat keeping the tune in time.

Because of the diversity of percussive instruments, it is not uncommon to find large musical ensembles composed entirely of percussion. Rhythm, melody, and harmony are all represented in these ensembles.

Percussion notation[link]

Music for pitched percussion instruments can be notated on a staff with the same treble and bass clefs used by many non-percussive instruments. Music for percussive instruments without a definite pitch can be notated with a specialist rhythm or percussion-clef; More often a treble clef (or sometimes a bass clef) is substituted for rhythm clef.

Classifications[link]

Percussion instruments are classified by various criteria sometimes depending on their construction, ethnic origin, function within musical theory and orchestration, or their relative prevalence in common knowledge.

Percussion instruments are sometimes classified as "pitched" or "unpitched." While valid, this classification is widely seen as inadequate. Rather, it may be more informative to describe percussion instruments in regards to one or more of the following four paradigms:

By methods of sound production[link]

Many texts, including Teaching Percussion by Gary Cook of the University of Arizona, begin by studying the physical characteristics of instruments and the methods by which they can produce sound. This is perhaps the most scientifically pleasing assignment of nomenclature whereas the other paradigms are more dependent on historical or social circumstances. Based on observation and experimentation, one can determine how an instrument produces sound and then assign the instrument to one of the following four categories:

Idiophone[link]

"Idiophones produce sounds through the vibration of their entire body."^[5] Examples of idiophones:

• Bock-a-da-bock
• Cabasa
• Cajón
• Celesta
• Chimes
• Cowbell
• Crash cymbals
• Crotales
• Güiro
• Handbells
• Hi-hat
• Lummi stick
• Marimba
• Orchestra bells
• Piano
• Quadrangularis Reversum
• Singing bowls
• Slit drum
• Steelpan
• Suspended cymbal
• Tongue drums
• Triangle
• Vibraphone
• Vibraslap
• Wood block
• Xylophone

Membranophone[link]

Most objects commonly known as "drums" are membranophones. "Membranophones produce sound when the membrane or head is struck."^[5]

Examples of membranophones:

• Bass drum
• Bongos
• Conga
• Darbuka
• Djembe
• Mridangam
• Octoban
• Snare drum
• Tabla
• Timpani
• Tom-tom

• The lion's roar and the cuíca are friction instruments which are not struck like other drums, but the sound is produced by applying friction to a string (lion's roar) or to a stick (cuíca) that is attached to the center of the membrane. In both cases, it is the membrane that vibrates, not the string nor the stick, thus ensuring their classification as membranophones. In the case of the lion's roar, a resined string (or gut) is fastened through a hole in the membrane. In the case of the cuíca, the stick is attached (tied) to the membrane before it is stretched and tightened to the body of the instrument, and the stick is accessible by placing one hand inside the body, rubbed with a wet cloth.
• Wind machines: A wind machine in this context is not a wind tunnel and therefore not an aerophone. Instead, it is an apparatus (often used in theatre as a sound effect) in which a sheet of canvas (a membrane) is rubbed against a screen or resonator; this action produces a sound which resembles the blowing of wind.

Chordophone[link]

Most instruments known as "chordophones" are defined as string instruments, but some such as these examples are percussion instruments also.

• Hammered dulcimer, Cimbalom
• Onavillu

Aerophone[link]

Most instruments known as "aerophones" are defined as wind instruments such as a saxophone whereby sound is produced by a person or thing blowing air through the object. Examples of aerophones played by percussionists:

• Apito or samba whistle
• Siren
• Slide whistle
• Whistle or police whistle

By musical function or orchestration[link]

When classifying instruments by function it is useful to note if a percussion instrument makes a definite pitch or indefinite pitch.

For example, some percussion instruments (such as the marimba and timpani) produce an obvious fundamental pitch and can therefore play melody and serve harmonic functions in music. Other instruments (such as crash cymbals and snare drums) produce sounds with such complex overtones and a wide range of prominent frequencies that no pitch is discernible.

Definite pitch[link]

Percussion instruments in this group are sometimes referred to as "pitched" or "tuned".

Examples of percussion instruments with definite pitch:

• Anvil
• Caisadrum
• Chimes/Tubular bells
• Crotales
• Glass harmonica
• Glass harp
• Glockenspiel
• Handbells
• Hang
• Marimba
• Mridangam
• Steelpan
• Tabla
• Timpani
• Tuned Triangle
• Vibraphone
• Wind chimes
• Xylophone
• Xylo-marimba

Indefinite pitch[link]

Instruments in this group are sometimes referred to as "non-pitched", "unpitched", or "untuned". Traditionally these intruments are thought of as making a sound that contains such complex frequencies that no discernible pitch can be heard.

In fact many traditionally unpitched instruments, such as triangles and even cymbals, have also been produced as tuned sets.^[6]

Examples of percussion instruments with indefinite pitch:

• Bass drum
• Castanets
• Cymbals
• Rainstick
• Slapstick or whip
• Snare drum
• Tamtam
• Tom-tom

By prevalence in common knowledge[link]

Although it is difficult to define what is "common knowledge", there are instruments in use by percussionists and composers in contemporary music which are certainly not considered by most to be musical instruments of any kind. Therefore, it is worthwhile to try to make distinction between instruments based on their acceptance or consideration by a general audience.

For example, it is safe to argue that most people would not consider an anvil, a brake drum (the circular hub which houses the brake on the wheel of a motor vehicle), or a fifty-five gallon oil barrel to be musical instruments, yet these objects are used regularly by composers and percussionists of modern music.

One might assign various percussion instruments to one of the following categories:

Conventional or popular[link]

• Drum kit
• Gong
• Tambourine

Unconventional[link]

(Sometimes referred to as "found" instruments or as custom percussion)

• Automobile Brake Drum
• Beer kegs
• Brooms
• Clay pots
• Five gallon buckets
• Garbage cans
• Metal pipes
• Metal pots
• Plastic bag
• Rocks in a bucket
• Shopping carts
• Spokes on a bicycle wheel

John Cage, Harry Partch, Edgard Varèse, and Peter Schickele, all noted composers, created entire pieces of music using unconventional instruments. Beginning in the early 20th century, perhaps with Ionisation by Edgard Varèse which used air-raid sirens (among other things), composers began to require percussionists to invent or "find" objects to produce the desired sounds and textures. Another example includes the use of a hammer and saw in Penderecki's De Natura Sonoris No. 2. By late 20th century, such instruments had become common in modern percussion ensemble music and popular productions, such as the off-Broadway show, Stomp. Rock band Aerosmith used a number of unconventional instruments in their song Sweet Emotion, including shotguns, brooms, and a sugar bag.

By cultural significance or tradition[link]

It is not uncommon to discuss percussion instruments in relation to their cultural origin. This has led to a division between instruments which are considered "common" or "modern," and folk instruments which have a significant history or purpose within a geographic region or cultural group.

Folk percussion instruments[link]

Some percussion instruments

Ancient Chinese musical bronze bells from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, c. 6th century BC.

• Berimbau
• Bodhrán
• Bombo legüero
• Cajon
• Dhaa
• Dhime
• Dhol
• Dholak
• Djembe
• Dunun
• Gamelan
• Kalimba (Thumb Piano)
• Kpanlogo
• Lagerphone
• Latin percussion
• Madal
• Marimba
• Marimbula
• Naykheen
• Pogo cello
• Skrabalai
• Steelpan
• Tabla
• Taiko
• Tambourine
• Thavil
• Timbales
• Tonbak
• Urumee
• Udukai

"Common" drums[link]

This category includes instruments which are widely available and popular throughout the world:

• Drum kit, typically consisting of:
  • Bass drum
  • Crash cymbal
  • Floor tom
  • Hi-Hat cymbals
  • Snare drum
  • Tom-tom drums
• Marching percussion instruments
• Orchestral percussion instruments

Names for percussionists[link]

The general term for a musician who plays percussion instruments is "percussionist" but the terms listed below are often used to describe a person's specialties:

• Balafonist: a balafon player
• Bombisto: a bombo legüero player
• Bongocero: someone who plays bongos and usually cencerro (a cow bell)
• Congalero, conguero: someone who plays congas
• Cymbalist: someone who plays cymbals
• Djembefola: djembe player.
• Drummer: a term usually used to describe someone who plays the drumset, hand drums or a single drum such as Snare drum.
• Glockenspielist: someone who plays the glockenspiel.
• Güirero: someone who plays the güira, a Dominican scraper used in merengue music
• Marimbist: a marimba player
• Panman, pannist: a steelpan player
• Timbalero, timbero: someone who plays timbales
• Timpanist: a timpani player
• Vibraphonist: a vibraphone player
• Xylophonist: a xylophone player

Manufacturers[link]

For a list of percussion instrument manufacturing companies, see the categories link down below this article.

See also[link]

	Percussion portal
	Music portal

• Beatboxing
• Bock-a-da-bock
• Drum
• Drum beat (including a list of drum beats)
• Drum Corps International
• Drum Kit
• Drumline
• Electronic drum
• Hand percussion
• Klopotec
• Latin percussion
• List of percussionists
• Melodic percussion instrument
• Musical Stones of Skiddaw
• Orchestral percussion
• Percussion notation
• Percussive Arts Society
• Pipes and Drums Corps
• Practice pad
• Vocal percussion

Notes and references[link]

Further reading[link]

• James Blades, Percussion Instruments and Their History, (1970).
• Shen, Sinyan, Acoustics of Ancient Chinese Bells, Scientific American, 256, 94 (1987).
• Schick, Steven (May 2006). The Percussionist's Art - Same Bed, Different Dreams. University of Rochester Press. ISBN 978-1-58046-214-3. http://www.urpress.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=10918. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Percussion instruments

• Percussion instruments at the Open Directory Project
• Drummer Brasil — Website for drummers and percussionists
• Video clips of percussion instruments demonstrated
• Drum Museum, Information about antique hand drums from Africa, New Guinea and the Himalayas

Sonny Rollins
Background information
Birth name	Theodore Walter Rollins
Also known as	Newk, Colossus, Uncle Don
Born	(1930-09-07) September 7, 1930 (age 81)
Origin	New York, New York, United States
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Saxophonist
Instruments	Tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Labels	Prestige, Blue Note, Contemporary, RCA Victor, Impulse!, Milestone
Associated acts	Jackie McLean, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk

Sonny Rollins at Stockholm Jazz Fest 2009

Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930 in New York City)^[1] is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians.^[1] A number of his compositions, including "St. Thomas", "Oleo", "Doxy", and "Airegin", have become jazz standards.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Although Rollins was born in New York City, his parents were born in the United States Virgin Islands.^[2] Rollins received his first saxophone at age 13. He attended Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem. He said that a concert by Frank Sinatra there, accompanied by a plea for racial harmony, changed his life.^[3][4][5]

Rollins started as a pianist, changed to alto saxophone, and finally switched to tenor in 1946. During his high-school years, he played in a band with other future jazz legends Jackie McLean, Kenny Drew and Art Taylor. He was first recorded in 1949 with Babs Gonzales ( J. J. Johnson was the arranger of the group). In his recordings through 1954, he played with performers such as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk.^[6]

In 1950, Rollins was arrested for armed robbery and given a sentence of three years. He spent 10 months in Rikers Island jail before he was released on parole. In 1952 he was arrested for violating the terms of his parole by using heroin.^{[citation needed]} Rollins was assigned to the Federal Medical Center, Lexington, at the time the only assistance in the U.S. for drug addicts. While there he was a volunteer for then-experimental methadone therapy and was able to break his heroin habit.^{[citation needed]} Rollins himself initially feared sobriety would impair his musicianship, but then went on to greater success.

As a saxophonist he had initially been attracted to the jump and R&B sounds of performers like Louis Jordan, but soon became drawn into the mainstream tenor saxophone tradition. Joachim Berendt has described this tradition as sitting between the two poles of the strong sonority of Coleman Hawkins and the light flexible phrasing of Lester Young, which did so much to inspire the fleet improvisation of be-bop in the 1950s.^[7]

Rollins began to make a name for himself in 1949 as he recorded with J. J. Johnson and Bud Powell what would later be called "Hard Bop", with Miles Davis in 1951, with the Modern Jazz Quartet and with Thelonious Monk in 1953, but the breakthrough arrived in 1954 when he recorded his famous compositions "Oleo" "Airegin" and "Doxy" with a quintet led by Davis. Rollins then joined the Miles Davis Quintet in the summer of 1955, but left after a short stay to deal with his drug problems.^[8][9] Rollins was invited later in 1955 to join the Clifford Brown–Max Roach quintet; studio recordings documenting his time in the band are the albums Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street and Sonny Rollins Plus 4. After Brown's death in 1956 Rollins began his subsequent career as a leader, his first long-playing albums released on Prestige Records. He also recorded during the 1950s for Blue Note, Riverside, and the Los Angeles label Contemporary.

[edit] Saxophone Colossus

His widely acclaimed album Saxophone Colossus was recorded on June 22, 1956 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey, with Tommy Flanagan on piano, former Jazz Messengers bassist Doug Watkins and his favorite drummer Max Roach. This was Rollins' sixth recording as a leader and it included his best-known composition "St. Thomas", a Caribbean calypso based on a tune sung to him by his mother in his childhood, as well as the fast bebop number "Strode Rode", and "Moritat" (the Kurt Weill composition also known as "Mack the Knife").^[1]

In 1956 he also recorded Tenor Madness, using Miles Davis' group – pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones. The title track is the only recording of Rollins with John Coltrane, who was also in Davis' group.^[1]

At the end of the year Rollins recorded a set for Blue Note with Donald Byrd on trumpet, Wynton Kelly on piano, Gene Ramey on bass, and Rollins' long-term collaborator Max Roach on drums. This has been released as Sonny Rollins Volume One (the superstar session Volume Two recorded the following year has consistently outsold it).

The pianoless trio[link]

In 1957 he pioneered the use of bass and drums (without piano) as accompaniment for his saxophone solos. This texture came to be known as "strolling". Two early tenor/bass/drums trio recordings are Way Out West (Contemporary, 1957) and A Night at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1957). Rollins uses the trio format intermittently throughout his career, sometimes taking the unusual step of using his sax as a rhythm section instrument during bass and drum solos. Way Out West was so named because it was recorded for a California-based record label (with L.A. stalwart drummer Shelly Manne), and because the record included country and western songs such as "Wagon Wheels" and "I'm an Old Cowhand". The Village Vanguard CD consists of two sets, a matinee with bassist Donald Bailey and drummer Pete LaRoca and then the evening set with bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Elvin Jones.

By this time, Rollins had become well known for taking relatively banal or unconventional material (such as "There's No Business Like Show Business" on Work Time, "I'm an Old Cowhand", and later "Sweet Leilani" on the Grammy-winning CD This Is What I Do) and turning it into a vehicle for improvisation.

1957's Newk's Time saw him working with a piano again, in this case Wynton Kelly, but one of the most highly regarded tracks is a saxophone/drum duet, "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" with Philly Joe Jones. Also that year he recorded for Blue Note with a star-studded line-up of J. J. Johnson on trombone, Horace Silver or Thelonious Monk on piano and drummer Art Blakey (released as Sonny Rollins Volume 2).

In 1958 Rollins recorded another landmark piece for saxophone, bass and drums trio: The Freedom Suite. His original sleeve notes said, "How ironic that the Negro, who more than any other people can claim America's culture as his own, is being persecuted and repressed; that the Negro, who has exemplified the humanities in his very existence, is being rewarded with inhumanity."^[10]

The title track is a 19-minute improvised bluesy suite, much of it interaction between Rollins' saxophone and the drums of Max Roach, some of it very tense. However the album was not all politics – the other side featured hard bop workouts of popular show tunes. The bassist was Oscar Pettiford. The LP was only briefly available in its original form, before the record company repackaged it as Shadow Waltz, the title of another piece on the record.

Finally in 1958 Rollins made one more studio album before taking a three-year break from recording. This was another session for Los Angeles based Contemporary Records and saw Rollins recording an esoteric mixture of tunes including "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody" with a West Coast group made up of pianist Hampton Hawes, guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Shelly Manne.

1959 to 1971[link]

By 1959, Rollins was frustrated with what he perceived as his own musical limitations and took the first – and most famous – of his musical sabbaticals. To spare a neighboring expectant mother the sound of his practice routine, Rollins ventured to the Williamsburg Bridge to practice. Upon his return to the jazz scene in 1962 he named his "comeback" album The Bridge at the start of a contract with RCA Records, recorded with a quartet featuring guitarist Jim Hall and still no piano. The rhythm section was Ben Riley on drums and bassist Bob Cranshaw. This became one of Rollins' best-selling records.

The contract with RCA lasted until 1964 and saw Rollins remain one of the most adventurous musicians around. Each album he recorded differed radically from the previous one. Rollins explored Latin rhythms on What's New; tackled the avant-garde on Our Man in Jazz featuring Bob Cranshaw on bass, Billy Higgins on drums and Don Cherry on pocket trumpet; played with a tenor saxophone hero, Coleman Hawkins, on Sonny Meets Hawk, re-examined jazz standards on Now's the Time and some great American songbook standards on The Standard Sonny Rollins.

His 1965 residency at Ronnie Scott's legendary jazz club has recently emerged on CD as Live in London, a series of releases from the Harkit label; they offer a very different picture of his playing from the studio albums of the period. (These are unauthorized releases, and Rollins has responded by "bootlegging" them himself and releasing them on his website.) He then provided the soundtrack to the 1966 version of Alfie while recording for Impulse! records, which also produced East Broadway Run Down, Next Album, There Will Never Be Another You, and Sonny Rollins on Impulse!.

1972 to 2000[link]

Sonny Rollins

Rollins took his most recent sabbatical to study yoga, meditation, and Eastern philosophies. When he returned in 1972, it was clear that he had become enamored of R&B, pop, and funk rhythms. His bands throughout the 1970s and 1980s featured electric guitar, electric bass, and usually more pop- or funk-oriented drummers. For most of this period he recorded for Milestone Records and the compilation Silver City: A Celebration of 25 Years on Milestone contains a selection from these years. The 70s and 80s were not all disco though and it was during this period that Rollins' passion for unaccompanied saxophone solos came to the forefront. In 1985 he released The Solo Album.

In 1981, Rollins was asked to play uncredited on three tracks by The Rolling Stones for their album Tattoo You, including the single, "Waiting on a Friend".^[11]

In 1986 Documentary filmmaker Robert Mugge released a film titled Saxophone Colossus. It featured two Rollins performances: a quintet in upstate New York and his Concerto for Saxophone and Symphony in Japan.

2001 to present[link]

Sonny Rollins at Newport in 2008

Critics such as Gary Giddins and Stanley Crouch have noted the disparity between Sonny Rollins the recording artist, and Sonny Rollins the concert artist. In a May 2005 New Yorker profile, Crouch wrote of Rollins the concert artist:

"Over and over, decade after decade, from the late seventies through the eighties and nineties, there he is, Sonny Rollins, the saxophone colossus, playing somewhere in the world, some afternoon or some eight o'clock somewhere, pursuing the combination of emotion, memory, thought, and aesthetic design with a command that allows him to achieve spontaneous grandiloquence. With its brass body, its pearl-button keys, its mouthpiece, and its cane reed, the horn becomes the vessel for the epic of Rollins' talent and the undimmed power and lore of his jazz ancestors."

Rollins won a 2001 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for This Is What I Do (2000).^[12] On September 11, 2001, the 71-year-old Rollins, who lived several blocks away, heard the World Trade Center collapse, and was forced to evacuate his apartment, with only his saxophone in hand. Although he was shaken, he traveled to Boston five days later to play a concert at the Berklee School of Music. The live recording of that performance was released on CD in 2005, Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert, which won the 2006 Grammy for Jazz Instrumental Solo for Sonny's performance of "Why Was I Born?".^[12] Rollins was presented with a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2004, but sadly that year also saw the death of his wife Lucille.^[12]

In 2006, Rollins went on to complete a Down Beat Readers Poll triple win for: "Jazzman of the Year", "#1 Tenor Sax Player", and "Recording of the Year" for the CD Without a Song (The 9/11 Concert). The band that year was led by his nephew, trombonist Clifton Anderson, and included bassist Bob Cranshaw, pianist Stephen Scott, percussionist Kimati Dinizulu, and drummer Perry Wilson.

After a highly successful Japanese tour Rollins returned to the recording studio for the first time in five years to record the Grammy-nominated CD Sonny, Please (2006). The CD title is derived from one of his late wife's favorite phrases. The album was released on Rollins' own label, Doxy Records, following his departure from Milestone Records after many years and was produced by Clifton Anderson. Rollins' band at this time, and on this album, included Bob Cranshaw, guitarist Bobby Broom, drummer Steve Jordan and Kimati Dinizulu.

Rollins performed at Carnegie Hall on September 18, 2007, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his first performance there. Appearing with him were Clifton Anderson (trombone), Bobby Broom (guitar), Bob Cranshaw (bass), Kimati Dinizulu (percussion), Roy Haynes (drums) and Christian McBride (bass).^[13]

September 25, 2009, Rollins performed to a packed crowd at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. The personnel was similar to the Carnegie Hall performance; Clifton Anderson (trombone), Bobby Broom (guitar), Bob Cranshaw (bass), Kobie Watkins, drums, Sammy Figueroa (percussion).^[14]

On June 27, 2010, Rollins played at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in Montreal's Place-des-Arts for the 31st annual Montreal Jazz Festival, accompanied by, among others, Bob Cranshaw and Russell Malone. Prior to this show, he received the Miles Davis Award.^[15]

He also released on Doxy/Emarcy Records, 2 critically acclaimed albums from his archives: Road Shows: Vol. 1 and Road Shows 2 (with 4 tracks documenting his 80th birthday concert, which includes Rollins' first ever appearance with 'new thing' master Ornette Coleman on the 20 minute "Sonnymoon for Two".

Tributes and legacy[link]

Rollins is recognized for the length and quality of his career, one not easily matched in the world of music. His melodic sensibilities, playing style and solos have influenced several generations of musicians.^[1]

On September 7th 2011, his 81st birthday, Sonny Rollins was named as an honoree for the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors.

Rollins was awarded the 2010 National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.^[16]

The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota officially named October 31, 2006 after Rollins in honor of his achievements and contributions to the world of jazz.

In 2007 Rollins received the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, together with Steve Reich, and Colby College awarded him a Doctor of Music, honoris causa, for his contributions to jazz.

Rollins was elected to the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1973.

The cover of Donald Fagen's 1982 LP The Nightfly shows Fagen playing Rollins' 1958 LP Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders. The cover of Joe Jackson's 1984 A&M album Body and Soul is a replica of Rollins' 1957 Blue Note album Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2.

In The Simpsons Episode 6 Season 1, jazz musician Bleeding Gums Murphy plays the saxophone on a bridge in the middle of the night, a reference to Rollins famously playing alone on the Williamsburg Bridge.

Discography[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Blancq, Charles. (1983). Sonny Rollins: The journey of a jazzman. Boston: Twayne.
• Nisenson, Eric (2000). Open Sky, Sonny Rollins and his world of Improvisation. Da Capo Books: Printing Press. 
• Christian Broecking (2010). Sonny Rollins - Improvisation und Protest. Creative People Books / Broecking Verlag, ISBN 978-3-938763-29-2

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sonny Rollins

• Sonny Rollins Official Website

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (January 2009)

Kimati Dinizulu
Background information
Birth name	Nana Kimati Dinizulu
Also known as	Kimati Dinizulu
Genres	Folk, African
Occupations	percussionist, artist, musician
Website	http://www.kimatidinizulu.com

Nana Kamati Dinizulu is an African percussionist. He has performed with many great artists like Toni Morrison, Alvin Ailey, Donald McKayle, Gregory Hines, Sonny Rollins, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, Wynton Marsalis, Jackie McLean and Dizzy Gillespie and many more.

Life and career[link]

Nana Kimati Dinizulu has been playing drums and percussion instruments since his early childhood. For many generations, the Dinizulu clan has been active in music and performance. Nana Dinizulu’s father, the late Nana Opare Dinizulu was a world-respected African drummer. His mother, Alice Dinizulu, was a key dancer for Asadata Dafora’s Dance Company which was the first dance company to put African dance and music on Broadway in the United States from the 1930s to the 1950s.

To gain a deeper knowledge of African traditions, as a young man, Dinizulu, traveled to Ghana where he lived and learned for two years and then he moved back to the United States. Since then, he has made over 30 trips to Africa, where he now resides part of the year. While in Ghana, he studied with expert drummers, Kofi Nabenadi, C. K. Ganyo, and Sully Emmorro. He also learned from elders of the Fanti people, master drummers whose tutelage proved invaluable in his development as a leading practitioner of African drumming. A major influence on his musical growth and creative energies was his involvement with the Fanti’s Asafo (warrior) music, a tradition dating back many centuries.

Apart from this, Mr. Dinizulu studied extensively with Haitian master drummers, Louis Celestine, Frisner Augustin, and Alphonse Cimber. He also studied various forms of traditional music from Brazil with the late Loramil Machado. Additionally, Mr. Dinizulu has studied African and African-American hand drumming with his father, Baba Chief Bey (James Hawthorne Bey), Baba Kwame Ishangi, and many others. In addition, e has conducted extensive research with the Maroons of Jamaica, the Ewe of Togo, the Orisha worshippers of Trinidad and Tobago, Rada ritual musicians in Haiti and the Ring Shouters of the Georgia Sea Islands.

Mr. Dinizulu has worked with several domestic and international cultural organizations, including UNESCO. UNESCO declared 2004 to be the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition by the United Nations General Assembly. Mr. Dinizulu performed and lectured on endangered African-American instruments as a part of a UNESCO conference of scholars from around the world gathered at Tulane University.

Furthermore, Mr. Kimati Dinizulu has worked with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, an organization for documenting, preserving, interpreting, and celebrating the culture and history of black people worldwide. He has performed music and conducted traditional African rituals for the Schomburg Center. He performed at the 75th anniversary celebrations of the Schomburg Center which included pouring libation for the grand opening of the “Lest We Forget: The Triumph over Slavery Exhibit”.

Kimati Dinizulu has also performed libation and drumming at “A Harlem Tribute to the Freedom Schooner Amistad”. He performed the drum rituals to help bring the Amistad into port in Harlem, New York.

Besides this, Mr. Dinizulu was a participant in the African-American delegation at the First Annual Emancipation Day Celebration in Ghana, Africa in 1998 which was sponsored by the government of Ghana. The African-American delegation was responsible for the re-interment of one escaped slave, Samuel Carson with a full state funeral. Emancipation Day is a remembrance of the abolition of Chattel Slavery.

The learning of drumming and African culture is a lifetime process for Mr. Dinizulu. His encyclopedic knowledge of drums, percussion, and the art of drumming comes from his worldwide travels and studies of the music of other cultures as well as his heartfelt love for music and learning. He has assembled a group of musicians from around the world, called the Kotoko Society with whom he composes and performs regularly.

Music[link]

Performances by Nana Kimati Dinizulu[link]

Nana Kimati Dinizulu has made numerous worldwide performances over the past decades for many diverse groups of people. Some of Mr. Dinizulu’s performances include Broadway’s Death and the King's Horseman which is a play written and directed by the legendary Wole Soyinka. Mr. Dinizulu has also undertaken many other Broadway productions. In addition, Mr. Dinizulu has worked with prominent artists such as author Toni Morrison in her production N’Orleans - A Storyville Musical in which he scored music for the Congo Square scene and Satchmo’s last international concert in Ghana scene. He also performed as a percussionist with Odetta, Carmen de Lavallade and Antonio Fargas in this production. Moreover, Mr. Dinizulu has co-written the composition “Divining” (Judith Jamison’s first ballet for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater) which was a collaboration with artist/composer Monti Ellison. He was also commissioned by choreographer Judith Jamison for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to compose the music for the smash hit “Riverside”. Both of these works have toured extensively throughout the world.

In the year 2003, Mr. Dinizulu performed for the Blues Music Foundation at Radio City Music Hall in New York in the “Salute to the Blues” concert produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by Antoine Fuqua which was filmed for television broadcast. The Blues Music Foundation is a non-profit, international organization and is dedicated to the preservation of blues history and the celebration of blues excellence. Mr. Dinizulu performed with artists such as Mavis Staples, Buddy Guy, Mos Def, and Angelique Kidjo in this concert.

Apart from all this, Mr. Dinizulu has also performed during Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday Tribute. He is also an active member of UNESCO’s efforts to promote knowledge about the slave trade in the world and has given several lectures such as on "African-American Endangered Musical Instruments" and performances on UNESCO’s behalf.

He has also performed with the Paul Winter Consort which combined elements from various African, Asian and South American cultures with jazz. Together they performed A Concert for the Earth which was recorded live at the General Assembly of the United Nations on World Environment Day. Mr. Dinizulu is also the percussionist in the Sonny Rollins band.

The Kotoko Society[link]

Dinizulu established the Kotoko Society to promote traditional African music and awareness of African culture throughout the world and to continually explore musical styles from Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil, and all places where African music has found a new home. This society consists of musicians from countries such as Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Haiti, Trinidad, Barbados, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, St. Martin, Panama, and the United States of America. The main emphasis of this society is to promote a new musical style called “Sankofa music” which has been created by Mr. Dinizulu. Sankofa is a proverbial term from the language of the Akan people of Ghana.^{[citation needed]}

The traditional instruments used to perform Sankofa have been gathered from a wide variety of lands and cultures and are represented in his Kotoko Society's performances. However, Mr. Dinizulu not only uses these traditional instruments, he also continually introduces new musical instruments of his own design and construction, to complement those, which are already employed by the Kotoko Society. Playing over 500 traditional and modern instruments, the Kotoko society regularly performs at leading concert venues as well as major universities and cultural institutions. They have performed at Lincoln Center, the American Museum of Natural History, Columbia University, Medgar Evers College, Long Island University, as well as other diverse environments such as the Trump Tower and the Philadelphia Folk Festival and toured in Japan and the Caribbean. In addition to these, the group regularly appears at major nightclubs such as The Sounds of Brazil (S.O.B.’s).^{[citation needed]}

Discography[link]

• Ancestral Spirits — Kimati Dinizulu
• Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert — Sonny Rollins
• Slavery and the Making of America — Original Soundtrack to the PBS Series
• Martin Scorsese Presents a Film — Antoine Fuqua Lightning in a Bottle
• Unforgivable Blackness The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson — Wynton Marsalis
• Reeltime — Wynton Marsalis
• Collected — Danilo Pérez
• Lotus Flower — Steve Turre
• New Horizons — Vanessa Rubin
• Jungle Swing — Johnny Copeland
• Mental Images — Robin Eubanks
• JLW — Joe Louis Walker
• The Journey — Danilo Pérez
• Steve Turre — Steve Turre
• 20th Anniversary Collection — Green Linnet
• Don't You Know I Care — Antonio Hart
• Anthems — Paul Winter
• Undocumented Dancing — Pat Kilbride
• Sanctified Shells — Steve Turre
• A Cloud of Red Dust — Stefon Harris
• Love Like Fire — Rick Henly
• Greatest Hits — Paul Winter
• Rhythm Within — Steve Turre
• Silhouettes — Lonnie Liston Smith
• Pontius Pilate's Decision — Delfeayo Marsalis
• Wolf Eyes — Paul Winter
• So Far: The Collection 1979-1995
• 80th Anniversary — RCA Victor
• 25 Years of Celtic Music — Various Artists
• Wild Blue — Eileen Ivers
• Concert for the Earth — Paul Winter
• Celtic Music Today — Various Artists
• Joyful Noise: Celtic Favorites — Green Linnet

External links[link]

• http://www.kimatidinizulu.net
• http://www.kimatidinizulu.net/blog

Evelyn Glennie
Evelyn Glennie at Moers Festival 2004
Background information
Birth name	Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie
Born	(1965-07-19) 19 July 1965 (age 46), Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Occupations	Percussionist
Instruments	Percussion

Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie,^[1] DBE (born 19 July 1965) is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. She was the first full-time solo percussionist in 20th-century western society.^[2]

Early life[link]

Glennie was born and raised in Aberdeenshire. Her father was Herbert Arthur Glennie, an accordionist in a Scottish country dance band, and the strong, indigenous musical traditions of north-east Scotland were important in the development of the young musician, whose first instruments were the mouth organ and the clarinet. Other major influences were Glenn Gould, Jacqueline du Pré and Trilok Gurtu. She studied at Ellon Academy and the Royal Academy of Music, and was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.

Career[link]

Glennie tours extensively in the northern hemisphere, spending up to four months each year in the United States, and performs with a wide variety of orchestras and contemporary musicians, giving over 100 concerts a year as well as master classes and "music in schools" performances;she frequently commissions percussion works from composers and performs them in her concert repertoire.

She also plays the Great Highland Bagpipes and has her own registered tartan known as "The Rhythms of Evelyn Glennie". Glennie is in the process of producing her own range of jewellery and works as a motivational speaker.

Deafness[link]

Glennie has been profoundly deaf since age 11. This does not inhibit her ability to perform at the international level. She regularly plays barefoot during both live performances and studio recordings in order to "feel" the music better.^[3]

Glennie contends that deafness is largely misunderstood by the public. She claims to have taught herself to hear with parts of her body other than her ears. In response to criticism from the media, Glennie published "Hearing Essay" in which she discusses her condition.

Collaborations[link]

Glennie was featured on Icelandic singer Björk's album Telegram, performing the duet "My Spine". She has collaborated with many other musicians including former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, Bela Fleck, Bobby McFerrin, Fred Frith and The King's Singers.

On 21 November 2007, the UK government announced an infusion of £332 million for music education. This resulted from a successful lobbying spearheaded by Glennie, Sir James Galway, Julian Lloyd Webber, and Michael Kamen, who also (in 2002/2003) together formed the Music in Education Consortium.^[4]

Personal life[link]

In 1994, Glennie married composer, sound engineer and tuba player Greg Malcangi, with whom she collaborated on several musical projects. They divorced in 2003 following her widely-publicised affair with orchestral conductor Leonard Slatkin.^[5]

Recognition[link]

Glennie has won many awards, including:

• Best Chamber Music Performance in the Grammy Awards of 1989
• Scot of the Year 1982
• Queen's Commendation prize for all round excellence 1985
• Scotswoman of the Decade 1990
• Best Studio and Live Percussionist from Rhythm Magazine 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 & 2004
• Walpole Medal of Excellence 2002
• Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year 2003
• Sabian Lifetime Achievement Award 2006
• Percussive Arts Society: Hall of Fame – November 2008^[6][1]

She has been awarded 15 honorary doctorates from universities in the United Kingdom, was awarded the OBE in 1993, and was promoted to DBE in the New Year's Honours of 2007.^[7] She owns over 1800 percussion instruments from all over the world and is continually adding to her collection. She was also a VIP of the music industry. Dame Evelyn Glennie is also an Ambassador of the Royal National Children's Foundation (formerly the Joint Educational Trust) which helps support vulnerable, disadvantaged young people at state and independent boarding schools throughout the UK.

Albums[link]

• Rhythm Song (1990)
• Veni, veni Emmanuel (1993) (Catalyst 09026-61916-2. All pieces composed by James MacMillan. Scottish Chamber Orchestra.)
  • Veni, Veni, Emmanuel
    • Introit – Advent
    • Heartbeats
    • Dance – Hocket
    • Transition: Sequence I
    • Gaude, Gaude
    • Transition: Sequence II
    • Coda – Easter
  • After the Tryst
  • "...as others see us..."
    • Henry VIII (1491–1547)
    • John Wilmot (1647–1680)
    • John Churchill (1650–1722)
    • George Gordon (1788–1824) and William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
    • Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965)
    • Dorothy Mary Hodgkin (b. 1910)
  • Three Dawn Rituals
    • Larghetto
    • Allegro moderato
    • Andante
  • Untold
• Wind In The Bamboo Grove (1995)
• Shadow Behind the Iron Sun (1999)
• The Sugar Factory (featuring Fred Frith; 2007)

Films[link]

• Touch the Sound (2004). Directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer, featuring a collaboration with Fred Frith. The farm where she grew up burned down during the production of the film, but her brother, Roger (who is featured in the film), and the animals, were unhurt.^{[citation needed]}

Autobiography[link]

• Good Vibrations: My Autobiography^[8]

Television appearances[link]

• ZingZillas (2010). Appeared in episode 19 ("Hide and Seek") playing tubular bells on the BBC channel CBeebies.^[9] and in episode 50 ("Where's the Bug?") playing the waterphone.^[10]
• Sesame Street (2009). Appeared playing percussion with Oscar The Grouch's Grouchkateer Trash Band.^[11]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Evelyn Glennie's website
• TED Talks: Evelyn Glennie shows how to listen to music with your whole body at TED in 2003
• Evelyn Glennie interview by Bruce Duffie