Sonny Rollins Dies at 95 After a 65-Year Jazz Career
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 26
Sonny Rollins Dies at 95 After a 65-Year Jazz Career
10 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 26
Sonny Rollins, the tenor saxophonist whose death at 95 prompted a fresh appraisal of his work, was celebrated for sustaining a roughly 65-year career built on fearless improvisation.
Twelve essential albums traced that arc from early classics like “Way Out West” and “A Night at the Village Vanguard” to later recordings that showed his restless, real-time invention.
Rollins also left a durable songbook, writing jazz standards including “Oleo” and “Airegin” while continually returning to popular songs and calypso influences tied to his St. Thomas family roots.
The retrospective cast him less as a movement leader than as a musician who embodied jazz’s core demand: making the present moment new in performance.
What led the jazz giant Sonny Rollins to record a now-famous solo for The Rolling Stones?
How did practicing on a bridge for two years transform Sonny Rollins's legendary musical style?
What secrets to improvisation did the saxophone colossus reveal in his recently published notebooks?