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.
