Legendary American jazz musician Sonny Rollins has died at the age of 95, his publicist confirmed. The tenor saxophonist, known as "the Saxophone Colossus," passed away at his home in Woodstock, New York, on Monday afternoon. No cause of death was announced.
A Storied Career
Rollins began playing the saxophone as a child, receiving his first alto saxophone at age seven or eight. His career launched in the 1940s, and by the 1950s he was collaborating with jazz greats including Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. Over his lifetime, he released more than 60 albums as a band leader and won two Grammy Awards.
The Bridge and Beyond
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Rollins famously practiced on a pedestrian walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge to avoid disturbing a neighbor expecting a baby. This inspired his iconic 1962 album The Bridge. A fifteen-story apartment building named "The Rollins" stands on Grand Street where he once lived, and a campaign sought to rename the bridge in his honor.
Rollins earned the moniker "the great improviser," with saxophonist Branford Marsalis calling him "the greatest improviser in the history of jazz."
9/11 and Later Life
In 2001, Rollins and his wife lived six blocks from the World Trade Center when the September 11 attacks occurred. Evacuating with only his saxophone, he performed a live set in Boston three days later, titled Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert, winning a Grammy for best jazz instrumental solo. He later told The Guardian: "I lost many prized possessions in 9/11 and learned a lesson – possessions are not where it’s at."
Legacy and Honors
Rollins' influence extended beyond jazz. Former US President Barack Obama said Rollins inspired him to "take risks that I might not otherwise have taken" while awarding him the 2010 National Medal of the Arts in 2011. Rollins retired in 2014 due to respiratory illness.
Reflecting on jazz, Rollins once said: "Jazz is good. It’s not just lecture music, it’s not shake your booty music. It’s everything. It doesn’t make you feel like fighting. It makes you feel that there is a God."
His publicist's statement called him "one of the most honoured and influential figures in American music," including a 2009 quote: "I think when the creative person ends, he continues in the next existence. 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."
