Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a leader. A number of his compositions, including " St. Thomas", " Oleo", " Doxy", "Pent-Up House", and " Airegin", have become jazz standards. Rollins has been called "the greatest living improviser" and the "Saxophone Colossus".

Early life

Rollins was born in New York City to parents from the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an Territories of the United States, uninco ...

. The youngest of three siblings, he grew up in central

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harl ...

and on Sugar Hill, receiving his first alto saxophone at the age of seven or eight. He attended Edward W. Stitt Junior High School and graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

. Rollins started as a pianist, changed to alto saxophone, and finally switched to

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors i ...

in 1946. During his high school years, he played in a band with other future jazz legends Jackie McLean, Kenny Drew, and Art Taylor.

Later life and career

1949–1956

After graduating from high school in 1948, Rollins began performing professionally; he made his first recordings in early 1949 as a sideman with the bebop singer

Babs Gonzales Babs Gonzales (October 27, 1919 – January 23, 1980), born Lee Brown, was an American bebop vocalist, poet, and self-published author. His books portrayed the jazz world that many black musicians struggled in, portraying disk jockeys, club owner ...

(trombonist J. J. Johnson was the arranger of the group). Within the next few months, he began to make a name for himself, recording with Johnson and appearing under the leadership of pianist Bud Powell, alongside trumpeter Fats Navarro and drummer Roy Haynes, on a seminal "

hard bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gosp ...

" session. In early 1950, Rollins was arrested for

armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

and spent ten months in

Rikers Island Rikers Island is a island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx that contains New York City's main jail complex. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under in size, but has ...

jail before being released on parole; in 1952, he was re-arrested for violating the terms of his parole by using heroin. Between 1951 and 1953, he recorded with

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

, the Modern Jazz Quartet,

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

, and

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

. A breakthrough arrived in 1954 when he recorded his famous compositions "Oleo", "Airegin", and "Doxy" with a quintet led by Davis that also featured pianist

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sc ...

, these recordings appearing on the album '' Bags' Groove''. In 1955, Rollins entered the Federal Medical Center, Lexington, at the time the only assistance in the U.S. for drug addicts. While there, he volunteered for then-experimental methadone therapy and was able to break his heroin habit, after which he lived for a time in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, briefly rooming with the trumpeter Booker Little. Rollins initially feared sobriety would impair his musicianship, but then went on to greater success. Rollins briefly joined the Miles Davis Quintet in the summer of 1955. Later that year, he joined the Clifford Brown–

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...

quintet; studio albums documenting his time in the band are '' Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street'' and ''

Sonny Rollins Plus 4 ''Sonny Rollins Plus 4'' is a jazz album by Sonny Rollins, released in 1956 on Prestige Records. On this album Rollins plays with the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet. The album was the last recording including pianist Richie Powell and Brown, as ...

''. After the deaths of Brown and the band's pianist, Richie Powell, in a June 1956 automobile accident, Rollins continued playing with Roach and began releasing albums under his own name on Prestige Records, Blue Note, Riverside, and the Los Angeles label Contemporary. His widely acclaimed album '' Saxophone Colossus'' was recorded on June 22, 1956, at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey, with Tommy Flanagan on piano, former Jazz Messengers bassist Doug Watkins, and his favorite drummer, Roach. This was Rollins's sixth recording as a leader and it included his best-known composition " St. Thomas", a Caribbean calypso based on "Hold him Joe" a tune sung to him by his mother in his childhood, as well as the fast bebop number "Strode Rode", and "Moritat" (the

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

composition also known as " Mack the Knife"). A long blues solo on '' Saxophone Colossus'', "Blue 7", was analyzed in depth by the composer and critic Gunther Schuller in a 1958 article. In the solo for "St. Thomas", Rollins uses repetition of a rhythmic pattern, and variations of that pattern, covering only a few tones in a tight range, and employing

staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and has appeared in music ...

and semi-detached notes. This is interrupted by a sudden flourish, utilizing a much wider range before returning to the former pattern. (Listen to the music sample.) In his book ''The Jazz Style of Sonny Rollins'', David N. Baker explains that Rollins "very often uses rhythm for its own sake. He will sometimes improvise on a rhythmic pattern instead of on the melody or changes." Ever since recording "St. Thomas", Rollins's use of calypso rhythms has been one of his signature contributions to jazz; he often performs traditional Caribbean tunes such as "Hold 'Em Joe" and "Don't Stop the Carnival", and he has written many original calypso-influenced compositions, such as "Duke of Iron", "The Everywhere Calypso", and "Global Warming". In 1957 he married the actress and model Dawn Finney. In 1956 he also recorded '' Tenor Madness'', using Davis's group – pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones. The title track is the only recording of Rollins with

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and rai ...

, who was also a member of Davis's group. At the end of the year Rollins appeared as a sideman on Thelonious Monk's album '' Brilliant Corners'' and also recorded his own first album for

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Or ...

, entitled '' Sonny Rollins, Volume One'', with Donald Byrd on trumpet, Wynton Kelly on piano,

Gene Ramey Gene Ramey (April 4, 1913 – December 8, 1984) was an American jazz double bassist. Ramey was born in Austin, Texas, United States, and played trumpet in college, but switched to contrabass when playing with George Corley's Royal Aces, The ...

on bass, and Roach on drums.

1957–spring 1959

In 1957, Rollins pioneered the use of bass and drums, without piano, as accompaniment for his saxophone solos,Ratliff, Ben. "Sonny Rollins Strips for Action." ''The New York Times,'' Late Edition (East Coast). September 16, 2007. ''ProQuest.'' Web. August 13, 2014. a texture that came to be known as "strolling". Two early tenor/bass/drums trio recordings are '' Way Out West'' and '' A Night at the Village Vanguard'', both recorded in 1957. ''Way Out West'' was so named because it was recorded for California-based Contemporary Records (with Los Angeles drummer Shelly Manne), and because it included

country and western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while t ...

songs such as " Wagon Wheels" and " I'm an Old Cowhand". The Village Vanguard album consists of two sets, a matinee with bassist Donald Bailey and drummer

Pete LaRoca Pete "La Roca" Sims (born Peter Sims; April 7, 1938 – November 20, 2012, known as Pete La Roca from 1957 until 1968) was an American jazz drummer and attorney. Born and raised in Harlem by a pianist mother and a stepfather who played trumpet ...

and an evening set with bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Elvin Jones. Rollins used the trio format intermittently throughout his career, sometimes taking the unusual step of using his sax as a rhythm section instrument during bass and drum solos. Lew Tabackin cited Rollins's pianoless trio as an inspiration to lead his own. Joe Henderson, David S. Ware,

Joe Lovano Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952)"Joe Lovano." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 13. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1994. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 5, 2017. is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarin ...

, Branford Marsalis, and Joshua Redman have also led pianoless sax trios. While in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

in 1957, Rollins met alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman and the two of them practiced together. Coleman, a pioneer of

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians dur ...

, stopped using a pianist in his own band two years later. By this time, Rollins had become well known for taking relatively banal or unconventional songs (such as " There's No Business Like Show Business" on '' Work Time'', " Toot, Toot, Tootsie" on ''

The Sound of Sonny ''The Sound of Sonny'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, his first recorded for the Riverside label, featuring performances by Rollins with Sonny Clark, Roy Haynes and Percy Heath or Paul Chambers.Sweet Leilani" on the Grammy-winning album '' This Is What I Do'') and using them as vehicles for improvisation. Rollins acquired the nickname "Newk" because of his facial resemblance to Brooklyn Dodgers star pitcher Don Newcombe. In 1957 he made his Carnegie Hall debut and recorded again for Blue Note with Johnson on trombone,

or Monk on piano and drummer

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the ...

(released as '' Sonny Rollins, Volume Two''). That December, he and fellow tenor saxophonist

Sonny Stitt Edward Hammond Boatner Jr. (February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982), known professionally as Sonny Stitt, was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/ hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of hi ...

were featured together on Dizzy Gillespie's album '' Sonny Side Up''. In 1958, he appeared in Art Kane's ''

A Great Day in Harlem ''A Great Day in Harlem'' or ''Harlem 1958'' is a black-and-white photograph of 57 jazz musicians in Harlem, Manhattan, Harlem, New York, taken by freelance photographer Art Kane for ''Esquire (magazine), Esquire'' magazine on August 12, 1958. ...

'' photograph of jazz musicians in New York; he is one of only two surviving musicians from the photo (the other being

Benny Golson Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929) is an American bebop/ hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launc ...

). The same year, Rollins recorded another landmark piece for saxophone, bass and drums trio: '' Freedom Suite''. His original sleeve notes said, "How ironic that the Negro, who more than any other people can claim America's culture as his own, is being persecuted and repressed; that the Negro, who has exemplified the humanities in his very existence, is being rewarded with inhumanity." The title track is a nineteen-minute improvised bluesy suite; the other side of the album features

workouts of popular show tunes. Oscar Pettiford and

provided bass and drums, respectively. The LP was available only briefly in its original form, before the record company repackaged it as ''Shadow Waltz'', the title of another piece on the record. Following ''

Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass ''Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, recorded for the MetroJazz Records, MetroJazz label, later reissued on Verve Records as ''Sonny Rollins/Brass - Sonny Rollins/Trio''.Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders'', before taking a three-year break from recording. This was a session for Contemporary Records and saw Rollins recording an esoteric mixture of tunes including " Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" with a West Coast group made up of pianist Hampton Hawes, guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Shelly Manne. In 1959 he toured Europe for the first time, performing in Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and France.

Summer 1959–fall 1961: The Bridge

By 1959, Rollins had become frustrated with what he perceived as his own musical limitations and took the first – and most famous – of his musical

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work. The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of ''shmita'' (sabbatical year), which is related to agriculture. According to ...

s. While living on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally ...

of Manhattan, he ventured to the pedestrian walkway of the

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressw ...

to practice, in order to avoid disturbing a neighboring expectant mother. Today, a fifteen-story apartment building named "The Rollins" stands on the Grand Street site where he lived. Almost every day from the summer of 1959 through the end of 1961, Rollins practiced on the bridge, next to the subway tracks. Rollins admitted that he would often practice for 15 or 16 hours a day, no matter what season. In the summer of 1961, the journalist Ralph Berton happened to pass by the saxophonist on the bridge one day and published an article in '' Metronome'' magazine about the occurrence. During this period, Rollins became a dedicated practitioner of

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-conscio ...

. Rollins ended his sabbatical in November 1961. He later said "I could have probably spent the rest of my life just going up on the bridge. I realized, no, I have to get back into the real world." In 2016, a campaign was initiated that seeks to have the bridge renamed in Rollins's honor.

Winter 1961–1969: Musical explorations

In November 1961, Rollins returned to the jazz scene with a residency at the Jazz Gallery in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

; in March, 1962, he appeared on

Ralph Gleason Ralph Joseph Gleason (March 1, 1917 – June 3, 1975) was an American music critic and columnist. He contributed for many years to the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', was a founding editor of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, and cofounder of the Monterey ...

's television series '' Jazz Casual''. During the 1960s, he lived on Willoughby Street in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, New York. He named his 1962 "comeback" album ''

The Bridge The Bridge may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Art * ''The Bridge'' (sculpture), a 1997 sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia, US * Die Brücke (''The Bridge''), a group of German expressionist artists * ''The Bridge'' (M. C. Escher), a lithograph ...

'' at the start of a contract with RCA Victor. Produced by George Avakian, the disc was recorded with a quartet featuring guitarist Jim Hall, Ben Riley on drums, and bassist

Bob Cranshaw Melbourne Robert Cranshaw (December 3, 1932 – November 2, 2016) was an American jazz bassist. His career spanned the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the Musicians Union. He is perhaps best known for his long associa ...

. This became one of Rollins's best-selling records; in 2015 it was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

. Rollins's contract with RCA Victor lasted through 1964. Each album he recorded differed radically from the previous one. The 1962 disc '' What's New?'' explored Latin rhythms. On the album '' Our Man in Jazz,'' recorded live at The Village Gate, he explored avant-garde playing with a quartet that featured Cranshaw on bass, Billy Higgins on drums and Don Cherry on cornet. He also played with a tenor saxophone hero,

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

, and free jazz pianist Paul Bley on '' Sonny Meets Hawk!'', and he re-examined jazz standards and

Great American Songbook The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" ...

melodies on '' Now's the Time'' and '' The Standard Sonny Rollins'' (which featured pianist

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he hel ...

). In 1963, he made the first of many tours of Japan. In 2007, recordings from a 1965 residency at

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959. History The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street (London), Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed ...

were released by the Harkit label as ''Live in London''; they offer a very different picture of Rollins's playing from the studio albums of the period. (These are unauthorized releases, and Rollins has responded by "bootlegging" them himself and releasing them on his website.) Upon signing with Impulse! Records, he released a soundtrack to the 1966 film '' Alfie,'' as well as '' There Will Never Be Another You'' and ''

Sonny Rollins on Impulse! ''Sonny Rollins on Impulse!'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, his first to be released on the Impulse! label, featuring performances by Rollins with Ray Bryant, Walter Booker and Mickey Roker.

'' After ''

East Broadway Run Down ''East Broadway Run Down'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins recorded in 1966 and released in 1967 by Impulse Records, his last album before industry pressures led him to take a six-year hiatus.Wynn, Ron. (October 19, 1998Survivors of ...

'' (1966), which featured trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones, Rollins did not release another studio album for six years. In 1968, he was the subject of a television documentary (in the series

Creative Persons ''Creative Persons'' is a biographical television series which was co-produced by broadcasters in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Premise This series was produced by Allan King Associates with support from Bayerischer ...

), directed by

Dick Fontaine Dick Fontaine (1939 – 28 October 2023) was an English documentary filmmaker. He was Head of Documentary Department at the National Film and Television School from 1995 to 2012 (UK). Biography Born in 1939, Fontaine graduated with an MA degr ...

, entitled ''Who is Sonny Rollins?''

1969–1971: Second sabbatical

In 1969, Rollins took another two-year sabbatical from public performance. During this hiatus period, he visited

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

for the first time and spent several months studying

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

, and Eastern philosophies at an

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Powai Powai (Pronunciation: əʋəiː is an upscale residential neighbourhood located in central Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is situated on the banks of Powai Lake, and is bound by the hills of Vikhroli Parksite to the south-east, Chandiva ...

, India, a district of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

1971–2000

He returned from his second sabbatical with a performance in Kongsberg, Norway, in 1971. Reviewing a March 1972 performance at New York's Village Vanguard night club, ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'' critic Whitney Balliett wrote that Rollins "had changed again. He had become a whirlwind. His runs roared, and there were jarring staccato passages and furious double-time spurts. He seemed to be shouting and gesticulating on his horn, as if he were waving his audience into battle." The same year, he released ''

Next Album ''Next Album'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, his first to be released on the Milestone label, featuring performances by Rollins with George Cables, Jack DeJohnette, Bob Cranshaw and Arthur Jenkins.Germantown, New York. Also in 1972, he was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in composition. During the 1970s and 1980s, he also became drawn to R&B, pop, and funk rhythms. Some of his bands during this period featured electric guitar, electric bass, and usually more pop- or funk-oriented drummers. In 1974, Rollins added jazz bagpiper Rufus Harley to his band; the group was filmed performing live at Ronnie Scott's in London. For most of this period Rollins was recorded by producer Orrin Keepnews for Milestone Records (the compilation ''Silver City: A Celebration of 25 Years on Milestone'' contains a selection from these years). In 1978 he, McCoy Tyner, Ron Carter, and Al Foster toured together as the Milestone Jazzstars. In June of that year he joined many other major jazz artists in a performance for President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...

on the

South Lawn The South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., is directly south of the house and is bordered on the east by East Executive Drive and the Treasury Building, on the west by West Executive Drive and the Old Executive Office Building, ...

of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

. It was also during this period that Rollins's passion for unaccompanied saxophone solos came to the forefront. In 1979 he played unaccompanied on '' The Tonight Show'' and in 1985 he released '' The Solo Album'', recorded live at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

in New York. He also frequently played long, extemporaneous unaccompanied cadenzas during performances with his band; a prime example is his introduction to the tune "Autumn Nocturne" on the 1978 album '' Don't Stop the Carnival''. By the 1980s, Rollins had stopped playing small nightclubs and was appearing mainly in concert halls or outdoor arenas; through the late 1990s he occasionally performed at large New York rock clubs such as Tramps and The Bottom Line. He added (uncredited) sax improvisations to three tracks by

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

for their 1981 album '' Tattoo You'', including the single, " Waiting on a Friend" and the long jam "

Slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

". That November, he led a saxophone masterclass on French television. In 1983, he was honored as a "Jazz Master" by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federa ...

. In 1986, documentary filmmaker

Robert Mugge Robert Mugge (born May 8, 1950) is an American documentary film maker. He has focused primarily on films about music and musicians, but some of his earliest films were not music focused and he is now continuing to branch out as his interests and ...

released a film titled ''Saxophone Colossus''. It featured two Rollins performances: a quintet concert at Opus 40 in upstate New York and a performance with the Yomiuri Shimbun Orchestra in Japan of his ''Concerto for Saxophone and Symphony'', a work composed in collaboration with the Finnish pianist and composer Heikki Sarmanto. In 1993, the Sonny Rollins International Jazz Archives opened at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

New York City Hall New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building is ...

proclaimed November 13, 1995, to be "Sonny Rollins Day". Several days later, Rollins gave a performance at New York City's Beacon Theatre that reunited him with musicians with whom he played as a teenager, including McLean,

Walter Bishop Jr. Walter Bishop Jr. (October 4, 1927 – January 24, 1998) was an American jazz pianist. Early life Bishop was born in New York City on October 4, 1927.Greene, Philip; Kernfeld, Barr"Bishop, Walter Jr." ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'' (2nd ed ...

, Percy Heath, Connie Henry, and Gil Coggins. In 1997, he was voted "Jazz Artist of the Year" in the '' Down Beat'' magazine critics' poll. The following year, Rollins, a dedicated advocate of

environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment (biophysical), environment, par ...

, released an album entitled ''

Global Warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in a broader sense also includes ...

''.

2001–2012

Critics such as Gary Giddins and Stanley Crouch have noted the disparity between Rollins the recording artist, and Rollins the concert artist. In a May 2005 '' New Yorker'' profile, Crouch wrote of Rollins the concert artist: Rollins won a 2001 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for '' This Is What I Do'' (2000).GRAMMY Award Winners
accessed September 29, 2009 On September 11, 2001, the 71-year-old Rollins, who lived several blocks away, heard the World Trade Center collapse, and was forced to evacuate his Greenwich Street apartment, with only his saxophone in hand. Although he was shaken, he traveled to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

five days later to play a concert at the Berklee School of Music. The live recording of that performance was released on CD in 2005 as '' Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert'', which won the 2006 Grammy for Jazz Instrumental Solo for Rollins's performance of "

Why Was I Born? "Why Was I Born?" is a 1929 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was written for the show '' Sweet Adeline'' (1929) and introduced by Helen Morgan. Popular recordings in 1930 were by Helen Morgan and by ...

" Rollins was presented with a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2004; that year also saw the death of his wife, Lucille. In 2006, Rollins went on to complete a Down Beat Readers Poll triple win for: "Jazzman of the Year", "#1 Tenor Sax Player", and "Recording of the Year" for the CD '' Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert''. The band that year featured his nephew, trombonist Clifton Anderson, and included bassist Cranshaw, pianist Stephen Scott, percussionist

Kimati Dinizulu ''Nana'' Kimati Dinizulu (27 September 1956 – 7 July 2013) was an American virtuoso percussionist, widely acclaimed for his artistry with African percussion (including apentemma, apente, sankofa, kyene, djembe, and caxixi) in jazz, folk, ...

, and drummer Perry Wilson. Sonny Rollins at Stockholm Jazz Fest 2009

After a successful Japanese tour Rollins returned to the recording studio for the first time in five years to record the Grammy-nominated CD ''

Sonny, Please ''Sonny, Please'' is a 2006 album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins. It was released on the Doxy label, and features performances by Rollins, trombonist Clifton Anderson, guitarist Bobby Broom, bassist Bob Cranshaw, drummers Steve Jordan and J ...

'' (2006). The CD title is derived from one of his wife's favorite phrases. The album was released on Rollins's own label, Doxy Records, following his departure from Milestone Records after many years and was produced by Anderson. Rollins's band at this time, and on this album, included Cranshaw, guitarist Bobby Broom, drummer

Steve Jordan Steve, Stephen, or Steven Jordan may refer to: Music * Steve Jordan (guitarist) (1919–1993), American jazz guitarist * Steve Jordan (drummer) (born 1957), American drummer, studio musician * Steve Jordan (accordionist) (born Esteban Jordan) (1939 ...

and Dinizulu. During these years, Rollins regularly toured worldwide, playing major venues throughout Europe, South America, the Far East, and Australasia; he is estimated to have sometimes earned as much as $100,000 per performance. On September 18, 2007, he performed at Carnegie Hall in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of his first performance there. Appearing with him were Anderson (trombone), Bobby Broom (guitar), Cranshaw (bass), Dinizulu (percussion), Roy Haynes (drums) and Christian McBride (bass). Around 2000, Rollins began recording many of his live performances; since then, he has archived recordings of over two hundred and fifty concerts. To date, four albums have been released from these archives on Doxy Records and Okeh Records: ''Road Shows, Vol. 1''; ''Road Shows, Vol. 2'' (with four tracks documenting his 80th birthday concert, which included Rollins's first ever recorded appearance with Ornette Coleman on the twenty-minute "Sonnymoon for Two"); ''Road Shows, Vol. 3''; and ''Holding the Stage'', released in April 2016. In 2010 Rollins was awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Edward MacDowell Medal; in the fall of the same year he celebrated his 80th birthday with a concert at New York's Beacon Theatre that included a guest appearance by Ornette Coleman. The following year he was the subject of another documentary by Dick Fontaine, entitled ''Beyond the Notes''. Rollins has not performed in public since 2012, and retired in 2014, due to recurring respiratory issues.

2013–present

In 2013, Rollins moved to Woodstock, New York. That spring, he made a guest television appearance on ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' in " Whiskey Business" and received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most ...

in New York City. In 2014 he was the subject of a Dutch television documentary entitled ''Sonny Rollins-Morgen Speel ik Beter''. He made a public appearance in June of that year introducing saxophonist Ornette Coleman at an all-star tribute performance to Coleman in Brooklyn, NY. In October 2015, he received the

Jazz Foundation of America The Jazz Foundation of America (JFA) is a non-profit organization based in Manhattan, New York that was founded in 1989. Its programs seek to help jazz and blues musicians in need of emergency funds and connect them with performance opportunitie ...

's lifetime achievement award. In the spring of 2017, Rollins donated his personal archive to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, one of the research centers of

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

. Later that year, he endowed the "Sonny Rollins Jazz Ensemble Fund" at Oberlin College, in "recognition of the institution's long legacy of access and social justice advocacy."

Influences

As a saxophonist he had initially been attracted to the jump and R&B sounds of performers like Louis Jordan, but soon became drawn into the mainstream tenor saxophone tradition. The German critic Joachim-Ernst Berendt described this tradition as sitting between the two poles of the strong sonority of

and the light flexible phrasing of Lester Young, which did so much to inspire the fleet improvisation of

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrum ...

in the 1950s. Other tenor saxophone influences include Ben Webster and Don Byas. By his mid-teens, Rollins became heavily influenced by alto saxophonist

. During his high school years, he was mentored by the pianist and composer

, often rehearsing at Monk's apartment.

Instruments

Rollins has played, at various times, a

Selmer Mark VI The Selmer Mark VI is a saxophone produced from 1954 to 1981. Production shifted to the Mark VII for the tenor and alto in the mid-1970s (see discussion of serial numbers below), and to the Super Action 80 for the soprano and baritone saxophone ...

tenor saxophone and a Buescher Aristocrat. During the 1970s he recorded on soprano saxophone for the album '' Easy Living''. His preferred mouthpieces are made by Otto Link and Berg Larsen. He uses Frederick Hemke medium reeds.

Discography

Decorations and awards

* Elected to the '' Down Beat'' Jazz Hall of Fame (1973) * Honorary Doctor of Arts from

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 18 ...

(1992) * Honorary Doctor of Music from Wesleyan University (1998) * Honorary Doctor of Music from Long Island University (1998) * Honorary Doctor of Music from Duke University (1999) * Honorary Doctor of Music from New England Conservatory of Music (2002) * Honorary Doctor of Music from Berklee College of Music (2003) * Grammy Award for lifetime achievement (2004) * Golden Plate Award of the Academy of Achievement, American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2006) * Minneapolis, Minnesota officially named October 31, 2006 after Rollins in honor of his achievements and contributions to the world of jazz * Polar Music Prize "for over 50 years one of the most powerful and personal voices in jazz" (2007) * Honorary Doctor of Music from Colby College(2007) * Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (2009) * Honorary Doctor of Music from Rutgers University (2009) * National Medal of Arts (2010) * Miles Davis Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival (2010) * Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2010) * Kennedy Center Honors on his 81st birthday (September 7, 2011) * Honorary Doctor of Music from the Juilliard School (May 2013)"7 to Be Presented With Honorary Degrees"

. Retrieved September 14, 2013. *Honorary Doctor of Music from the University of Hartford (2015) * Edward MacDowell Medal (2010)

References

External links

*
Sonny Rollins Biography and Interview on American Academy of AchievementDetailed Discography at Jazzdisco.orgSonny Rollins papers, 1910s-2015
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.
Sonny Rollins audiovisual collection from his personal holdings
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rollins, Sonny 1930 births Living people African-American jazz composers African-American jazz musicians African-American woodwind musicians American jazz bandleaders American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists American people of United States Virgin Islands descent Bebop saxophonists Blue Note Records artists Contemporary Records artists Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Hard bop saxophonists Impulse! Records artists Kennedy Center honorees Milestone Records artists Musicians from New York City Prestige Records artists Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class RCA Victor artists United States National Medal of Arts recipients Verve Records artists Jazz musicians from New York (state) 21st-century saxophonists American male jazz composers American jazz composers Miles Davis Quintet members Okeh Records artists EmArcy Records artists