JazzNation Talks With: Dennis Rollins

26.4.2001

When I met him recently at Life Cafe, I asked Dennis what advice he had for budding musicians like me. He thought for a second, then suggested, "always surround yourself with musicians better than you". He reasoned that this lifts your own standard, and admitted that Courtney Pine usually "just beat him up" on stage. Humility like that made me smile. But, I have to say, judging by that Thursday night performance, it must be getting increasingly difficult for Dennis to find musicians better than him.

Trombonist Dennis Rollins hit the big time in the mid-80’s as part of the Jazz Warriors, playing alongside the likes of Courtney Pine, Mark Mondesir and Cleveland Watkiss, releasing the album Out of Many, One People in 1987. But, after a stint with another band, and a busy session schedule including work with Marcus Miller, Roy Ayers and Courtney, Dennis now tours with his 6-piece band Bad Bone and Co which hit Life Cafe on Peter Street recently. Jazz Nation was there to witness the funk grenade that went off that night. With impressive support from his brother Erroll on drums, Dennis laid out an authoritative groove encompassing jazz, fused with Caribbean and African funk. Highlights included the band’s excellent arrangement of Bill Withers’ Use Me, which went from acoustic chill to explosion, then back again.

An enthusiastic, energised man, he zipped around the audience during the break, making a point of shaking hands and chatting with the quietly impressed throng. And quiet they were. Maybe it was because it was a weeknight, but the Life Café clientele seemed a bit reserved. I, of course, was shrieking like a big girl, loving every minute of it and hoping I wasn’t going to miss the alarm in the morning.

I’ve since tried to track down the band’s 4-track EP Wild and Free, but realise that Musicians like Dennis and Courtney tend to lose their impact on CD. Their energy and power really doesn’t translate to recorded material. Live in a club, you get the works. In order to fully appreciate what devastating improvisers they can be, you really have to be parked in front of several amplifiers on a packed dancefloor, so you can gawp and drool. You become convinced that all music should sound like this. There’s nothing complex, nothing cerebral about it. You’re there to hear some musicians who really know how to get funky. It’s like the old days of Blue Note break-beat artists like Donald Byrd, Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Henderson. Unashamed. Unsurpassed.

Don’t miss Dennis when he comes to Band On The Wall, June 23rd, or I’ll have to have serious words with you

-JN-