Legendary jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, born and raised in New York City, is dead at age 95.
The jazz legend, nicknamed the “saxophone colossus,” died Monday, May 25 at his home in Woodstock.
Throughout his prolific career, which began in the 1940s, Rollins recorded over 60 albums as a band leader. Often called “the greatest living improviser,” Rollins has been recognized as a defining figure of jazz. Several of his compositions have become standards of the genre. His best known 1956 album Saxophone Colossus was selected for preservation by the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2016.
Born Walter Theodore Rollins in 1930 in New York City, Rollins grew up in Central Harlem and on Sugar Hill. He was mentored by celebrated jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. While in high school, Rollins played in a band with other future jazz legends Jackie McLean, Kenny Drew and Art Taylor.
Between 1951 and 1953, Rollins recorded with Miles Davis, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. In 1954, he recorded his famous compositions “Oleo,” “Airegin” and “Doxy,” which immediately became jazz standards.
Between 1959 and 1961 he practiced for hours nearly every day on the pedestrian walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge.
“I could have probably spent the rest of my life just going up on the bridge,” he later said to The Washington Post. In 2016, a campaign was initiated to have the bridge renamed in Rollins’ honor.
Rollins won Grammy Awards in 2001 and 2006 for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Jazz Instrumental Solo respectively. He won a 2004 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010, Rollins received the National Medal of the Arts from President Barack Obama. The following year, Rollins became a Kennedy Center Honoree alongside Meryl Streep, Yo Yo Ma, Barbara Cook and Neil Diamond.
Personal Life
Rollins lived with his wife Lucille Pearson, who served as his manager and producer until her death in 2004, in Greenwich Village. The couple lived just six blocks from the World Trade Center. During the 9/11 attacks, he evacuated his home with only his saxophone. He relocated upstate to Woodstock in 2014.
Sonny Rollins stopped performing in 2012 and officially retired in 2014 following recurring respiratory issues related to pulmonary fibrosis.
“I think when the creative person ends, he continues in the next existence.” Rollins said in 2009. “I’m a person who believes this life isn’t the be-all and end-all of everything. A spiritual person doesn’t feel like that.”
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