Category Archives: Transcribe St. Thomas

Happy Birthday Sonny Rollins

Thursday, 7th September was the 87th Birthday of living, saxophone legend Sonny Rollins.

Rollins who is sadly no longer performing in public took to Twitter to thank fans from all over the world who wished him a Happy Birthday!

Sonny has been a huge influence on my playing.  His rendition of the popular folk melody ‘St Thomas’ is one of my favourite tracks – I’ve recorded it four times and play it on nearly every gig I play.

There is a wish to rename Williamsburg Bridge, (where Sonny used to go and practice) as the ‘Sonny Rollins’ Bridge – make sure you check out this article… https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/a-quest-to-rename-the-williamsburg-bridge-for-sonny-rollins

Make sure you check out the playlists I’ve created in honour of Sonny’s Birthday, and the Vlog episode below…

Spotify Playlist https://goo.gl/kV4UFX
Apple Music https://goo.gl/VLMALg

My Summer Playlists

I realise that getting your practice in during the summer can be tough, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do some useful music related activities if you’re at the beach right now!

I’ve put together some playlists on Apple Music & Spotify to share with you over the holidays. One of them is a playlist of all the transcription projects that you can find on the Cambridge Saxophone website, the other is a mammoth Blue Note playlist with over 3 days worth of albums!

If you have other playlists then this app (Songshift) can help you transfer playlists between different streaming services!

Apple Music Playlists
(click on the link to open in iTunes, you can get 3 months free)

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/playlist/cambridge-saxophone-transcription-projects/idpl.u-7Dm0yFW4o2Ng

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/playlist/blue-note/idpl.84a62de323464fc3a8ee59a7f66f669e

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/playlist/best-of-prestige-records/idpl.9b77a66e2ffe4d2686e7f85d6f2bf56b

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/playlist/coltrane-standards-book/idpl.u-mPD8tzGveBo

Spotify (you can listen to Spotify for free, but with adverts)

I hope you will enjoy these playlists! Music streaming is an incredible resource for any music student and I urge you to take advantage of these whilst you’re away.