Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Better Do It Now Before You Die Later: Sonny Simmons with Marc Chaloin

Better Do It Now Before You Die Later: Sonny Simmons with Marc Chaloin

Simmons, Sonny
Chaloin, Marc

Hardcover

MusiciansJazz

Publisher Price: $45.00

ISBN10: 1953691994
ISBN13: 9781953691996
Publisher: Blank Forms Editions
Published: May 5 2026
Pages: 588
Weight: 2.55
Height: 2.00 Width: 6.50 Depth: 9.50
Language: English

Fiery, funny, inviting and digressive, Sonny Simmons' memoir is a long overdue celebration of the famed New York free jazz pioneer

Though his years in the New York free-jazz scene of the sixties cemented his reputation as one of the most forceful and convincing composers and soloists in his field, saxophonist Sonny Simmons (1933-2021) was nearly forgotten by the '80s, which found him broke, heavily dependent on drugs and alcohol, and separated from his wife and kids. I played on the streets from 1980 to 1994, 365 days a year, Simmons tells jazz historian and biographer Marc Chaloin. I would go to North Beach, and I'd sleep in the park. The word got around town that Sonny is a junkie, really strung out.

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