The Daily Shaarli
06/15/2026
Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear a jazz quartet from Northeast Arkansas play a Sonny Rollins song.
Sonny Rollins was a great jazz composer who also redefined jazz saxophone. He wrote the popular jazz standard, “St. Thomas”, based on the Bahamian folk song “Sponger Money”, a nursery song in the Virgin Islands, that his mother sang to him when he was a child. So, from these tender roots grew “St. Thomas” that Rollins included on his “Saxophone Colossus” album and remains a favorite.
Sonny Rollins was a great jazz composer who also redefined jazz saxophone. He wrote the popular jazz standard, “St. Thomas”, based on the Bahamian folk song “Sponger Money”, a nursery song in the Virgin Islands, that his mother sang to him when he was a child. So, from these tender roots grew “St. Thomas” that Rollins included on his “Saxophone Colossus” album and remains a favorite.