One of the most interesting characters in the history of jazz music is saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Perpetually dissatisfied, Rollins throughout his eight-decade career continuously pushed his own limits as a musician while pushing the boundaries of the music itself. Sonny Rollins was born on September 7, 1930, in New York City.

Growing up not far from the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, Rollins started on alto saxophone but switched to tenor at age 16. He was a fan of Coleman Hawkins and was also interested in the be-bop movement and the music of Charlie Parker. Thelonious Monk was one of Sonny’s early mentors and by the 1950s Rollins was developing a reputation as the “most brash and creative young tenor on the scene.” Miles Davis was a fan and wrote in his autobiography that “Some thought [Rollins] was playing the saxophone on the level of Bird. I know one thing – he was close. He was an aggressive, innovative player who always had fresh musical ideas. I loved him back then as a player and he could also write his ass off…” Rollins composed Airegin, Doxy, Oleo, and his theme song St. Thomas, all of which have become jazz standards.

After having played and recorded with Miles, Monk, the Modern Jazz Quartet and the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet, Sonny began recording as a leader in 1954. He produced a series of great records over the next five years and was widely considered the most innovative tenor player in jazz. In 1959, though, he decided to take a break from public performance because “I was getting very famous at the time, and I felt I needed to brush up on various aspects of my craft. I felt I was getting too much, too soon, so I said, wait a minute, I’m going to do it my way. I wasn’t going to let people push me out there, so I could fall down. I wanted to get myself together, on my own. I used to practice on the Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge because I was living on the Lower East Side at the time.” He returned to action in late 1961 with the appropriately titled album “The Bridge.”

After taking a second sabbatical from performing from the late 1960s until 1972, Rollins returned to jazz and accumulated an astonishing list of accolades in the following years. These included being elected to the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1973, winning a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2004, being recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors on his 81st birthday and receiving honorary doctorates from at least ten colleges and universities. During his career he performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and the Rolling Stones. Sonny Rollins passed away earlier this year, but continues to have a great influence on jazz music and jazz musicians.
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Here is a link to Rollins playing perhaps his best-known tune from his 1956 album “Saxophone Colossus:”

"ST. THOMAS"