
Sonny Rollins will go down in history as not only the single most
enduring tenor saxophonist of the bebop and hard bop eras, but also
as one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all time. His fluid and
harmonically innovative ideas, effortless manner, and easily
identifiable and accessible sound have influenced generations of
players. In addition, these skills have fueled the notion that
mainstream jazz can be widely enjoyed, recognized, and
proliferated. Rollins served early apprenticeships with Babs
Gonzalez, J.J. Johnson, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, and Max Roach
& Clifford Brown. His co-billing on a 1953 date with the Modern
Jazz Quartet, and his recordings with Thelonious Monk, served to
clue in the jazz establishment that a bright young star was in
their midst who was not only a fine and remarkable soloist, but a
supreme stylist. By the time 1956's classic Saxophone Colossus was
issued, he was heralded as jazz's top tenorist. (The album was
selected in 2017 for preservation in the National Recording
Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally,
historically, or artistically significant."). A year later when
issuing the equally compelling Way Out West, and A Night at the
Village Vanguard (two pioneering pianoless trio dates), he was
regarded by critics in a class of his own -- a reputation he never
relinquished. At the same time, Rollins also established himself as
a noted composer. Several of his tunes -- "St. Thomas," "Oleo,"
"Doxy," "Pent-Up House," and "Airegin" -- have become jazz
standards. Rollins' two "retirements" -- the first from the summer
of 1959 through the end of 1961, when he practiced his horn on the
Williamsburg Bridge, resulting in 1962's comeback album The Bridge
-- and the second from 1969-1971, when he went on a spiritual
sojourn in Jamaica and India -- only enhanced his abilities and
reputation. In between, he issued three more influential albums:
the soundtrack to the film Alfie, Sonny Rollins on Impulse!, and
East Broadway Run Down. After returning the second time, the
saxophonist had changed his style of play and, to a degree, his
tone, which had become much more physical, soulful, and urgent,
resulting in albums that reflected the influence of funk, pop, and
R&B in his music as it met hard post-bop jazz -- as evidenced
by the live date Don't Stop the Carnival in 1978. As one of jazz's
elder statesmen in the '90s and early 21st centuries, he held an
unbreakable connection between the music's historical lineage and
modernity. Rollins continued to set the creative bar high: He won
Grammys for 2000's This Is What I Do and 2005's Without a Song: The
9/11 Concert, and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Rollins is such a
cultural icon that he made an appearance on The Simpsons. He
stopped performing in public in 2012 due to respiratory issues and
was eventually forced to stop playing altogether. Born Theodore
Walter Rollins in New York City on September 7, 1930, he had an
older brother who played violin. At age nine, he took up piano
lessons but discontinued them, took up the alto saxophone in high
school, and switched to tenor after high school, playing local
engagements. In 1948 he recorded with vocalist Babs Gonzales, then
Bud Powell and Fats Navarro, and his first composition, "Audubon,"
was recorded by J.J. Johnson. Soon thereafter, Rollins quickly made
the rounds with groups led by Tadd Dameron, Chicago drummer Ike
Day, and Miles Davis in 1951, followed by his own recordings with
Kenny Drew, Kenny Dorham, and Thelonious Monk. In 1956 Rollins made
his biggest move, joining the famous ensemble of Max Roach &
Clifford Brown, then formed his own legendary pianoless trio with
bassist Wilbur Ware or Donald Bailey and drummer Elvin Jones or
Pete La Roca in 1957, recording sessions at the Village Vanguard.
Awards came from DownBeat and Playboy magazines, and recordings
were made mainly for the Prestige and Riverside labels, but also
for Verve, Blue Note, Columbia, and Contemporary Records -- all
these factors coincided with Rollins' steadily rising star. Pivotal
albums such as Tenor Madness (with John Coltrane), Saxophone
Colossus (with longstanding partner Tommy Flanagan), and Way Out
West (with Ray Brown and Shelly Manne), and collaborations with the
Modern Jazz Quartet, Clark Terry, and Sonny Clark firmly
established Rollins as a bona fide superstar. He also acquired the
nickname "Newk" for his facial resemblance to Brooklyn/Los Angeles
Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe. But between 1959 and 1961 he sought a
less superficial, more spiritual path to the rat race of the times,
visiting Japan and India, studying yoga and Zen. He left the music
business until 1962, when he returned with the groundbreaking and
in many ways, revolutionary recording The Bridge with guitarist Jim
Hall for the RCA Victor/Bluebird label. Rollins struck up a working
relationship with trumpeter Don Cherry; recorded a handful of
innovative LPs for the RCA Victor, MGM/Metro Jazz, and Impulse!
labels; made a record with his hero Coleman Hawkins, and left the
scene again in 1968. By 1971, he'd come back with a renewed sense
of vigor and pride and put out a string of successful records for
the Milestone label that bridged the gap between the contemporary
jazz and the fusion jazz of the time, the most memorable being his
live date from the 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival, The Cutting Edge.
Merging jazz with calypso, light funk, and post-bop, Rollins'
career was not only revived, but thrived from then onward. He was a
member of the touring Milestone Jazz Stars in 1978 with McCoy Tyner
and Ron Carter, and gained momentum as a touring headliner and
festival showstopper. His finest Milestone recordings of the second
half of his career include Easy Living, Don't Stop the Carnival,
G-Man, Old Flames, Plus Three, Global Warming, This Is What I Do,
and Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert. He has worked extensively
with road and recording bands that have included electric bass
guitarist Bob Cranshaw, trombonist Clifton Anderson, pianists Tommy
Flanagan and Stephen Scott, keyboardist Mark Soskin, guitarists
Bobby Broom and Jerome Harris, percussionist Kimati Dinizulu, and
drummers Jack DeJohnette, Perry Wilson, Steve Jordan, and Al
Foster. Rollins formed his own record label, Doxy, through which he
issued Sonny, Please in 2006. Into his eighth decade, Rollins
continued to perform, and was documented on the three-volume Road
Show series, also released on Doxy and Okeh. In 2010, Rollins was
awarded the National Medal of Arts. The following year he was the
subject of a documentary by Dick Fontaine, Beyond the Notes. Due to
health problems, Rollins stopped playing in public in 2012. In
2016, the album Holding the Stage, a companion to the Roadshow
series, appeared. The following year, Rollins made it known that he
had been forced to stop playing altogether and expressed some
disappointment that he had not achieved -- artistically -- all he
wanted to. ~ Michael G. Nastos