Legendary musician, fondly known as The Saxophone Colossus, Sonny Rollins has died at the age of 95.
Praised for his improvisational skills and having worked with stars including Miles Davis, the Rolling Stones and Thelonious Monk, the iconic jazz saxophonist passed away at his Woodstock, New York home on Monday (5.25.)
Taking to his official social media account, the musician’s long-time publicist Terri Hinte confirmed his passing, “It is with deep sorrow and profound love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins. The Saxophone Colossus died this afternoon at his home in Woodstock, NY at the age of 95.” “He is survived by his nephew Clifton Anderson and his nieces Vallyn Anderson and Gabrielle DeGroat. No public memorial is planned at this time.” “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,” per a 2009 Rollins quote.
Alongside his work with Miles Davis on Bags’ Groove, Dig and Collectors’ Items, Rollins famously recorded sax solos for ‘Waiting on a Friend’ and ‘Slave,’ both of which appeared on the Rolling Stones’ 1981 album Tattoo You.
The New York born musician showed a love for music from an early age and first began playing the piano before switching instruments at the age of seven when his mother bought him an alto saxophone. “I was in seventh heaven. My mother had to call me: ‘It’s time to eat dinner and come out.’ I could have been there forever,” he previously told Jazz Times.
Hailed as a staple in the hard bop genre the musician would later pioneer, one of Rollins’ earliest recorded appearances was on The Amazing Bud Powell in 1949,
With a career that latest from the 1940s until his retirement in 2014, following time in prison for armed robbery, Sonny Rollins overcome heroin addiction and was clean by the mid 1950s.
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Author: Al Dente
Photo: Yves Moch