Jazz luminary and saxophonist Sonny Rollins has died, according to a public statement by his publicist, Terri Hinte. In the recent past, the icon had been struggling with respiratory health issues, which had kept him from public performance since 2012. He died at home in Woodstock, New York. He was 95.
Born and raised in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, Rollins came up on the music of Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, and Fats Waller. He started playing the alto sax, but at 16, switched to tenor. As a teenager, he recorded with Bud Powell and J.J. Johnson. He later worked with Miles Davis (who referred to Rollins as a “legend” in his autobiography) and Thelonious Monk. In 1956, he emerged as a bandleader with a series of iconic recordings in the late 1950s, including Saxophone Colossus, A Night at the Village Vanguard, Tenor Madness, and Newk’s Time.
As the years progressed, so did Rollins’ playing style. He began with a bold, rounded sound on the saxophone before working his way through bebop, avant-garde jazz, calypso, and jazz-rock fusion, among other subgenres and styles. No matter where he began or headed next, though, Rollins always returned to rhythm as a driving force, often viewing it as a fountain of patterns instead of a percussion-bound form.
Though he took brief hiatuses away from music in 1959 and again in 1966, he continued working throughout his life. His most recent studio album was 2006’s Sonny, Please. In 2010, Rollins was awarded the National Medal of Arts; a year later, he was made a Kennedy Center Honoree. A live recording titled Road Shows, Vol. 4: Holding the Stage was released in April 2016.
As respiratory issues settled in during his later life, Rollins was forced to slow down his busy live schedule. He played his final concert in 2012, mere weeks after busting out rousing sets on stages like Detroit Jazz Festival. Barely two years later, he was forced to stop playing the saxophone altogether.
In an interview with Pitchfork conducted in 2016, Rollins discussed how he was keeping up his yoga practice, which he had been studying since the 1950s. Near the end of his life, he talked about focusing on “trying to get some wisdom” and exploring his inner life.
“The world is over in a minute and we’re here just for a second,” he told Pitchfork. “We need to use this time to find out something. We’re all on our different journeys. And of course it’s difficult. But it’s the way it’s supposed to be. I believe in karma too. Karma is what we’re supposed to be doing—to unravel our karma. See, whatever I did that was bad in this life or another life, I have to get rid of that. And here I am.”
