Jazz legend Sonny Rollins dead at 95
Sonny Rollins, the iconic jazz saxophonist who was known as the ‘saxophone colossus’, has died aged 95.
Rollins was one of the most celebrated jazz musicians of his era, starting out back in the 1940s and going on to work with prolific musicians such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker, releasing more than 60 albums across his accomplished career.
His death was announced by his publicist, saying he passed away at home in Woodstock, New York, on May 21st. An official cause of death has not been revealed.
The saxophonist’s publicist called him “one of the most honored and influential figures in American music”, adding a 2009 quote where Rollins said: “I think when the creative person ends, he continues in the next existence.”
He continued at the time: “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.”
Rollins, an original student of Thelonious Monk, gained his nickname of the ‘saxophone colossus’from his 1956 album of the same name, one of his most revered collections, as well as The Bridge in 1962.
The album was named after the Williamsburg Bridge in New York, where Rollins would take to practising his instrument throughout the 1960s. In the wake of his death, there have been calls to rename the bridge in his honour, according to BBC News.
With improvisation being a key tenet of his talent, Rollins once told American broadcaster PBS that his method purely consisted of “improvising on it, that I leave completely to the forces,” he said. “Sometimes I’m surprised by what comes out.”
In his later years, the musician was awarded the National Medal of the Arts from Barack Obama in 2011, before poor health forced him to retire in 2014.
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