Album Highlight: Saxophone Colossus by Sonny Rollins

Sonny Rollins, one of the true jazz greats, passed away yesterday. I'm not nearly knowledgeable enough to write a retrospective of his career, but the nytimes has you covered with both an obituary and an overview of his essential recordings. His 1957 album Saxophone Colossus is one of the best jazz albums ever recorded, and is often a go to of mine when I'm reading or working.

For a Kentucky connection with Rollins, check out the book The Narcotic Farm. Just outside Lexington, Kentucky there is a prison that used to be known as the United States Narcotic Farm. Opened in 1935, it was a strange hybrid institution: part federal prison, part hospital, part psychiatric facility, part working farm, and part research laboratory. The federal government created it during the New Deal era as an attempt to treat addiction medically rather than purely as criminal behavior. Unfortunately, the "Narco Farm" was also one of the places used for government experiments with LSD and other mind-altering drugs on patients and inmates. 

Long before drug rehabilitation facilities were common, "The Farm" was a place where many musicians, artists, and other cultural icons voluntarily went to treat their drug addictions, including Rollins who was a patient in 1955. Some of the best jazz performances in Kentucky took place at the facility while musicians like Rollins were rehabbing. The book is a truly fascinating look at life in mid-century America.