NEW YORK, United States — Sonny Rollins, the legendary tenor saxophonist and towering figure of the jazz era famously known as the “Saxophone Colossus,” has passed away at the age of 95.
Rollins died peacefully at his home in Woodstock, New York, on Monday afternoon, according to an official statement released by his publicist.
Okay News reports that over a prolific career spanning more than six decades, Rollins helped define modern jazz, collaborating with icons like Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane, while releasing over 60 albums as a bandleader.
Born Walter Theodore Rollins in Harlem in 1930, he picked up the saxophone at age seven. He rose to international acclaim in the 1950s, delivering masterpieces such as his 1956 album Saxophone Colossus. Known for his intense self-discipline, Rollins famously took a hiatus in the early 1960s to practice for hours daily on New York’s Williamsburg Bridge, inspiring his landmark 1962 album, The Bridge.
A two-time Grammy winner, Rollins received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2011 before a chronic respiratory illness forced his retirement from live performance in 2014. No official cause of death has been announced.
