Jazz
United States
Sonny Rollins
Artist Playlists
About Sonny Rollins
For generations, Sonny Rollins not only set the standard on tenor saxophone—he elevated jazz as a whole, embodying what many regard as the essence of a great improviser. Schooled on the job by Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk in the ’40s, the NYC-born Rollins landed a key gig with the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet in 1955. But even in the midst of huge success, he strove to play better—to be truer to his creative intentions. Possessed of a monastic self-discipline, Rollins took sabbaticals for practice and introspection, most famously from 1959 to 1961, when he could be seen woodshedding on the Williamsburg Bridge in New York. He strove for a more joyously melodic approach and a big sound while showing daunting facility with the harmonic demands of bebop and post-bebop. He reconciled influences from calypso to free jazz to pop, and he could transform the simplest showtune into a thing of enduring beauty. And a half-century of yoga practice also opened doors in his work to a more authentic expression of the self: Witness his endurance on the solo intro to “Autumn Nocturne,” from 1978's Don’t Stop the Carnival, for an almost meditative experience.
Musical InfluencesSonny Rollins's musical influences include Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster and more.
Influenced by Sonny RollinsSonny Rollins has influenced the music of Donald Fagen, Rudolph Johnson, Joshua Redman and more.
Similar to: Sonny Rollins
Discover more music and artists similar to Sonny Rollins, like Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker
