Tenor Saxophone | 1930-2026

Sonny Rollins grew up in Harlem's Sugar Hill neighbourhood and was recording professionally before he was twenty, writing jazz standards, "Oleo," "Airegin" and "Doxy," before his name appeared above the title on any record. He joined the Clifford Brown and Max Roach Quintet in 1955, appeared on "At Basin Street," and continued with Roach after Brown's death in 1956. "Saxophone Colossus" (Prestige, 1956), recorded with Tommy Flanagan, Doug Watkins and Max Roach, introduced "St. Thomas" and a melodic improvisational approach that established him among the most significant voices in jazz. "Way Out West" (Contemporary, 1957), a piano-less trio with Ray Brown and Shelly Manne, demonstrated the same authority without harmonic support. In 1959, at the height of his reputation, he withdrew from performing entirely, practising alone on the Williamsburg Bridge for two years, studying yoga and Eastern philosophy. His 1962 return album was called "The Bridge." A second sabbatical in the late 1960s took him to an ashram in India. He resumed performing in 1972 and continued until pulmonary fibrosis forced his retirement in 2012. He composed the soundtrack to the 1966 film "Alfie," performed at the 9/11 benefit concert four days after the attacks, and received a National Medal of Arts in 2010. The Washington Post called him "widely considered America's greatest living jazz musician" at the time of his death. Rollins died at his home in Woodstock, New York on May 25, 2026, aged 95.