R.I.P. Sonny Rollins

R.I.P. ‘Saxophone Colossus’-

Tenor sax legend, often known as one of the all-time great jazz improvisers, Sonny Rollins, died May 25 at his home in Woodstock, NY at the age of 95, as confirmed in a statement shared by his publicist, Terri Hinte.

Although Rollins had stopped performing more than a decade ago because of pulmonary fibrosis, his legacy and presence in the genre remained large.

With a career spanning some seven decades, Rollins had recorded more than sixty albums and been a notable presence in jazz since the 1950s, performing alongside fellow greats Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and countless others.

Walter Theodore “Sonny” Rollins was born on September 7, 1930 in NYC to immigrant parents from the Virgin Islands and was on a musical path since receiving his first alto sax around the age of seven. Though he originally started playing piano, he switched to tenor sax for good, influenced by the likes of Coleman Hawkins.

Rollins was playing professionally after high school and gaining a name for himself in the age of bebop, but his career was derailed by a robbery charge and then a drug-related parole violation, two of several instances that would force him to take a hiatus to rehabilitate himself before any further career moves.

Able to rise from his personal struggles, compositions such as “St. Thomas”, “Oleo”, “Doxy”, and “Airegin” would go on to become jazz standards. His landmark album, 1956’s Saxophone Colossus would be selected for preservation by the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2016 and 1962’s ‘comeback album’, The Bridge was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015.

Rollins also added uncredited sax work to three tracks (“Waiting on a Friend”, “Neighbours,” and the long jam “Slave”) on the 1981 Rolling Stones album Tattoo You and was a dedicated environmentalist, which was reflected in his later music, as well as his time supporting the related causes.

Rollins won a 2001 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for “This Is What I Do”, won a second three years later, for the 9/11 concert tribute, “Without a Song” and was awarded for his lifetime achievement in 2004. He also received a National Medal of Arts presented by President Obama, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the designation of Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts, among many other accolades.

His last concerts were in 2012, formally retiring in 2014 due to recurring respiratory issues caused by pulmonary fibrosis (though did manage to voice his appearance in a memorable 2013 ‘Simpsons’ episode).