Gripping drama ... Mr. Levy, who previously wrote a biography of Lou Reed, distills essential truths ... Mr. Levy also ties strands of Mr. Rollins’s history together in poignant ways ... Mr. Levy cites some of the criticisms directed at Mr. Rollins, but mostly steers clear of his own assessments ... [Levy] focuses less on musicology and more on the man who grew up as bebop took hold ... Mr. Levy enlightens us most of all about the resilience behind that power, the well-honed technique and wild imagination with which it was employed, and the humility, perhaps more apparent now, at its core.
A whopper, nearly 800 pages of deep-dive research ... A vivid picture of this milieu, its buzzing nightlife and its varieties of temptation waiting behind what seems every door. Throughout Saxophone Colossus, [Levy] weds his extensive research to a feel for detail and narrative; the book is certainly long, but it has too much great reporting to be dry ... Levy is excellent on the history of calypso and the late-1950s American craze for the genre.
Levy has scoured personal archives and the public record for any narrative details relating to Rollins, which are nearly countless ... Beyond that, Levy, the author of a biography of Lou Reed, seems to have found every published interview Rollins has ever given ... The 'Bridge' chapter also represents a bridge between the book’s two long sections, and a kind of apex from which the book’s tension begins to slacken. This slackening is not particularly a fault of Levy, a sympathetic and conscientious biographer who keeps his own style dialed way down ... A brimming and organized compendium, something to keep returning to like Rollins’s records.
Doorstop-sized tome ... The level of detail in the book [is] nothing short of astounding ... There’s much for jazz fans to digest as Rollins crosses paths with a galaxy of legends ... Levy takes a more realistic (and simple) approach.
Engrossing, often deeply affecting detail ... Levy provides precise and ravishing descriptions of Rollins’ music, 'tireless work ethic,' inspirations, frustrations with the record industry, social and environmental activism, and surprising collaborations.
Meticulously moves from year to year with material gleaned from 200 interviews and much-neglected sources ... A memorable work that will become the standard biography of the saxophone giant and should be embraced by all jazz fans and general readers. Highly recommended.
Meticulously researched ... Levy’s obsession with complete documentation also means that we only come to appreciate Rollins’ fascinating personality through the sheer weight of repeated anecdotes instead of synthesis on the part of his biographer. The portrait of Rollins the activist, yogi, and perfectionist genius that emerges frequently borders on hagiography, though the author gradually manages to convey the essence of an artist driven by a relentless spiritual quest to improve himself ... In fact, Levy's greatest contribution is his extensive account of the dissatisfaction that led to Rollins’ decision to practice on the Williamsburg Bridge for more than a year as well as the attention paid to the less-well-known work that followed. In this sense, Levy’s book counts as a success ... A definitive account of a jazz icon in which the level of detail will interest only superfans.
