Jazz Giant Sonny Rollins Dies At Age 95

Saxophonist Sonny Rollins died Monday at the age of 95. Rollins built one of the most influential and admired careers in jazz history, creating a legacy that reached far beyond his extraordinary talent as a tenor saxophonist. Over more than seven decades, Rollins became a revolutionary force in modern improvisation and a symbol of artistic independence, helping shape the hard bop movement.

During the 1950s, he helped shape the hard bop movement alongside innovators like Miles Davis, Max Roach, and Thelonious Monk, while developing a commanding tenor sound that quickly became one of the defining voices of modern jazz. Rollins also recorded a remarkable run of landmark albums, including Saxophone Colossus, Way Out West, The Bridge, and Freedom Suite, each of which expanded the possibilities of improvisation, composition, and jazz storytelling. In 1958, Rollins made an especially bold statement with “Freedom Suite,” one of the earliest major jazz works to directly address racial injustice and the Black American experience. Watch Rollins live in Denmark in 1965 and 1968.