I was sitting at a bar in Arverne, Queens watching the New York Knicks slap the shit out of the Cleveland Cavaliers in this year’s Eastern Conference Finals when I got a text from a dear friend with a Bluesky post from Sonny Rollins’ social team that read “It is with deep sorrow and profound love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins. The Saxophone Colossus died this afternoon at his home in Woodstock, at the age of 95 . . .”
Over the course of his seven-decade career, Rollings recorded over 60 albums as a leader and sideman, working with a who’s who of bop including Miles Davis, Roy Haynes, Charlie Parker, Horace Silver, Max Roach, John Coltrane, and many more. His compositions “St. Thomas,” “Oleo,” “Doxy,” and “Airegin” have become jazz standards.
Along with Coltrane, Rollins was largely considered one of jazz’s greatest and most influential saxophonists. He was also the last musician living from Art Kane’s famous “Great Day in Harlem” photo, which featured 57 of the era’s greatest jazz musicians. But this shouldn’t be a day to be sad. Let’s celebrate Rollins’ extraordinarily long life and career,
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