Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins has died

Sonny Rollins, a leading tenor saxophonist of post-World War II jazz, died at his home in Woodstock, New York, at age 95. He had been diagnosed years earlier with pulmonary fibrosis. Rollins outlived many of his 1950s and 1960s contemporaries, including major figures such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, and J.J. Johnson. His career spanned more than six decades, with live performances and recordings that demonstrated his vitality, innovation, and influence. He maintained a commanding stage presence and an original voice rooted in bebop that evolved by incorporating other styles. He avoided clichés and signature licks, and he expanded improvisations to surprising lengths while bringing fresh energy to standard tunes.

"Rollins survived virtually all of his contemporaries from the 1950s and '60s, the period in which the fundamental elements of the contemporary jazz that followed for the next half-century were established. Among his peers were musicians such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and J.J. Johnson."

"His long, productive career encompassed more than six decades, in each of which his live performances and recordings continually attested to his preeminence as one of jazz history's most vital, innovative and influential artists. His magisterial presence was a constant in his performances, from the time he was in his 20s into his later years."

""Rollins has an original jazz voice," critic Zan Stewart wrote in The Times in 1990, "rooted in the bebop mode, but a voice that has evolved over time, incorporating other styles and other forms as they fit that voice.""

""Rollins hates clichés and signature phrases - 'licks' - and refuses to play them," critic Stanley Crouch wrote in the New Yorker in 2005. "Consequently, for him there are no highly polished professional performances. When he's on, which is seven or eight times out of 10, Rollins - known as 'the saxophone"

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