Born: September 7th, 1930
Died: May 25th, 2026
Sonny Rollins, whose forceful and imaginative approach to the tenor saxophone made him one of the dominant jazz musicians of the post-second World War era, has died at his home in Woodstock, New York. He was 95.
Even by the standards of a music that prizes individuality, Rollins stood out, as both a musician and a personality.
Rollins came of age when a new kind of jazz known as bebop was in ascendance, and from the start his playing was suffused with bebop’s harmonic sophistication and rhythmic daring. To classify him as a bebopper, however, would be an oversimplification.
Over the years he flirted with the avant-garde, jazz-rock fusion and other styles. But with his ferocious energy, his penchant for playing the unexpected note at the unexpected moment, and his unusual sound – sometimes harsh and mocking, sometimes lush and romantic – he was ultimately unclassifiable.