Sonny Rollins, a highly influential jazz saxophonist, died at age 95 in Woodstock, New York. In the late 1940s, he created a fat, full-bodied tone that recalled Coleman Hawkins, contrasting with the lighter, less vibrato style common among young saxophonists. In the late 1950s, he paused his bandleader career for more than two years because he was dissatisfied with his playing quality. His musicianship matured alongside bebop, bringing harmonic sophistication and rhythmic daring. Over time, he engaged with avant-garde and jazz-rock fusion, yet remained difficult to categorize due to ferocious energy, surprise phrasing, and a wide range of emotional tone. He said real playing occurs on a subconscious level with a blank mind.
"In the late 1940s, when most young jazz saxophonists favored a light tone with minimal vibrato, he developed a fat, full-bodied sound that was a throwback to the older style of Coleman Hawkins, the first great tenor saxophonist in jazz. In the late 1950s, when his career as a bandleader was just getting off the ground, Mr. Rollins abruptly began a hiatus that lasted more than two years - mostly, he explained later, because he was not satisfied with the quality of his playing."
"Mr. Rollins came of age when a new kind of jazz known as bebop was in ascendance, and from the start his playing was suffused with bebop's harmonic sophistication and rhythmic daring. To classify him as a bebopper, however, would be an oversimplification. Over the years he flirted with the avant-garde, jazz-rock fusion and other styles."
"But with his ferocious energy, his penchant for playing the unexpected note at the unexpected moment, and his unusual sound - sometimes harsh and mocking, sometimes lush and romantic - he was ultimately unclassifiable. The real playing happens on a subconscious level, and at that point the clichés don't happen, Mr. Rollins told The New York Times in 1989."
""The real playing happens on a subconscious level, and at that point the clichés don't happen," Mr. Rollins told The New York Times in 1989. "When I'm really playing, my mind is completely blank." Rest easy, Sonny."
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