Sonny Rollins, one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all-time, passed away on Monday at his home in Woodstock, New York. He was 95.
A statement on his website included this quote of Rollins reflecting on death:
I think when the creative person ends, he continues in the next existence. I’m a person who believes this life isn’t the be-all and end-all of everything. A spiritual person doesn’t feel like that.
Rollins grew up in Harlem close to the prominent jazz venues of the Savoy Ballroom and the Apollo Theatre. His style was influenced by the harmonic sophistication of bebop, but pushed the envelope into new territory including jazz fusion. One of Rollins’ earliest fans was Miles Davis who described him as “an aggressive, innovative player who always had fresh musical ideas.” In 1955, Rollins joined the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet. “His trademarks became a caustic, often humorous style of melodic invention, a command of everything from the most arcane ballads to calypsos, and an overriding logic in his playing that found him hailed for models of thematic improvisation.”
“The music I play is too big to be put into any one style,” Rollins told an interviewer in 2002. “Every time I pick up the horn, I want to hear something fresh.”