On this day in 1936, Roy McCurdy was born in Rochester, NY

“I had the best time with Sonny. That was 1962. Played a lot of gigs with him. Made three albums with him: Now’s the Time, Nucleus & another really great album...called Sonny Meets Hawk with Sonny and Coleman Hawkins.”

“I played sets with Sonny where the set would be 1 tune. Or a series of tunes that would never stop. Just one tune into another....The bass would have a solo. Then the drummer would have 4s or 8s with Sonny, then I would have a solo, & Sonny would come back & play forever again.”

“And I had the greatest time hanging out with him. We traveled all over the world. The first time I went out of the country was with Sonny. We went to Japan. Henry Grimes, Paul Bley, and myself. Betty Carter was with us too. We accompanied her.”

“About a year ago Sonny and I were talking on the phone. He said that period was one of the best times in his musical career. That was special to me, coming from Sonny.”

“We stayed in clubs like in The Five Spot in New York – it’s amazing to say this now – but we stayed in those clubs a month, two months at a time just with this one group in the club. You really had a chance to get very, very tight. And if we weren’t there, we were traveling.”

“It was just so beautiful playing with Sonny. He was a rhythmical player. He’s perfect for a drummer to play with. I loved it.”

“My first gig with Sonny was out here in L.A., some place called the It Club...And Sonny’s funny, man. He wrote me a letter & he said “Roy, I am playing my behind off. I’m playing hard...You’re not playing quite hard enough. Would you please play harder. Sincerely, Sonny Rollins”

“From then on, that was it. I just played hard with him because he was such a strong, dynamic player. I just followed his lead. He loved drummers. He used to just kneel down and play right next to me from time to time.”