All Topics  
Sonny Rollins

 
Sonny Rollins

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Sonny Rollins
 
 
  Topics Sonny Rollins Topic Home

Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7 1930 in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 tenor saxophonist. Rollins' long, prolific career began at the age of 11, and he was playing with piano legend Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer.Widely considered one of the most important musicians in jazz -- he is one of only three jazz musicians to be featured on the cover of Time magazine -- Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epi...
 before reaching the age of 20. Rollins is still touring and recording today, having outlived most of his contemporaries such as John Coltrane
John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an United States jazz saxophonist and composer.Starting in bebop and hard bop, Coltrane later pioneered free jazz. He influenced generations of other musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history....
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
, Max Roach
Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history....
, and Art Blakey
Art Blakey

Arthur Blakey , born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, he was an United States jazz drummer and bandleader....
, all performers with whom he recorded.

e Rollins was born in New York City, his parents were born in the United States Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands

The United States Virgin Islands is a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Sonny Rollins'
Start a new discussion about 'Sonny Rollins'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7 1930 in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 tenor saxophonist. Rollins' long, prolific career began at the age of 11, and he was playing with piano legend Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer.Widely considered one of the most important musicians in jazz -- he is one of only three jazz musicians to be featured on the cover of Time magazine -- Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epi...
 before reaching the age of 20. Rollins is still touring and recording today, having outlived most of his contemporaries such as John Coltrane
John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an United States jazz saxophonist and composer.Starting in bebop and hard bop, Coltrane later pioneered free jazz. He influenced generations of other musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history....
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
, Max Roach
Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history....
, and Art Blakey
Art Blakey

Arthur Blakey , born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, he was an United States jazz drummer and bandleader....
, all performers with whom he recorded.

Biography


Early days

While Rollins was born in New York City, his parents were born in the United States Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands

The United States Virgin Islands is a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles....
. Rollins received his first saxophone at age 13.

Rollins started as a pianist
Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers....
, changed to alto saxophone
Alto saxophone

The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by the Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax. The alto, with the Tenor saxophone, is the most common size of saxophone....
, and finally switched to tenor
Tenor saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the Alto saxophone, is the most common size of saxophone....
 in 1946. During his high-school years, he played in a band with other future jazz legends Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean

John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City....
 and Kenny Drew
Kenny Drew

Kenneth Sidney Drew was an United States jazz pianist.Born in New York City, New York, he first recorded with Howard McGhee in 1949, and over the next two years recorded with Buddy DeFranco, Coleman Hawkins, Milt Jackson, Charlie Parker, Buddy Rich, and Dinah Washington....
. He was first recorded in 1949 with Babs Gonzales
Babs Gonzales

Babs Gonzales , born Lee Brown, was an United States jazz vocalist of the bebop era most notable for penning the famous Dizzy Gillespie song "Oop-Pop-A-Da", which was originally recorded and performed by his own band, Three Bips and a Bop....
 – in the same year he recorded with J. J. Johnson and Bud Powell
Bud Powell

Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell was an American Jazz piano. Powell has been described as one of "the two most significant pianists of the style of modern jazz that came to be known as bebop", the other being his friend and contemporary Thelonious Monk....
. In his recordings through 1954, he played with performers such as Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.Parker is widely considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians, along with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington....
 and Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer.Widely considered one of the most important musicians in jazz -- he is one of only three jazz musicians to be featured on the cover of Time magazine -- Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epi...
.

In 1950, Rollins was arrested for armed robbery and given a sentence of three years. He spent 10 months in Rikers Island
Rikers Island

Rikers Island is New York City's County jail facility, as well as the name of the island on which it sits, in the East River between Queens and the mainland Bronx, adjacent to the runways of LaGuardia Airport....
 jail before he was released on parole
Parole

Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French language parole, meaning " word." Following its use in late-medieval Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their word of honor to abide...
. In 1952 he was arrested for violating the terms of his parole by using heroin
Heroin

Heroin is a opioid synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. It is the 3,6-acetate ester of morphine . The white crystalline form is commonly the hydrochloride salt diacetylmorphine hydrochloride, however heroin Freebase may also appear as a white powder....
. Rollins was assigned to what was then the only assistance in the U.S. for drug addicts: "Narco", "The Farm", aka Federal Medical Center, Lexington
Federal Medical Center, Lexington

The Federal Medical Center, Lexington is a federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky housing 1,464 male inmates at high security and 296 female inmates at a low security camp....
. While there he was a volunteer for then-experimental Methadone
Methadone

Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic, antitussive and a maintenance drug addiction#Anti-addictive drugs for use in patients on opioids....
 therapy and was able to "kick" – endure an opiate withdrawal. Rollins himself initially feared sobriety would impair his musicianship, but then went on to greater success.

As a saxophonist he had initially been attracted to the jump
Jump blues

Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. Jump blues was very popular in the 1940s and was called rock and roll in the 1950s....
 and R&B
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
 sounds of performers like Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan

Louis Jordan was a pioneering United States jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s....
, but soon became drawn into the mainstream tenor saxophone tradition. Joachim Berendt
Joachim-Ernst Berendt

Joachim-Ernst Berendt was a Germany music journalist, book author and producer specialized on Jazz....
 has described this tradition as sitting between the two poles of the strong sonority of Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Randolph Hawkins , nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was a prominent jazz Tenor saxophone.He is commonly regarded as the first important and influential jazz musician to use the instrument: Joachim E....
 and the light flexible phrasing of Lester Young
Lester Young

Lester Willis Young , nicknamed 'Prez', was an United States jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He was also known to play the trumpet, violin, and drums....
, which did so much to inspire the fleet improvisation of be-bop in the 1950s. Rollins drew the two threads together as a fluid post-bop improviser with a sound as strong and resonant as any since Hawkins himself.

Miles, Monk and the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet

Rollins began to make a name for himself as he recorded with the Modern Jazz Quartet
Modern Jazz Quartet

The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 by Milt Jackson , John Lewis , Percy Heath , and Kenny Clarke . Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955....
 and with Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
 in 1951, recording his composition Oleo among others. In 1953 and 1954 he worked with Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer.Widely considered one of the most important musicians in jazz -- he is one of only three jazz musicians to be featured on the cover of Time magazine -- Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epi...
, recording Thelonius Monk and Sonny Rollins, which includes "I Want to Be Happy" and "Friday the 13th". Rollins then joined the Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown

Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated United States jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings....
–Max Roach
Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history....
 quintet in 1955 (recordings made by this group have been released as Sonny Rollins Plus 4 and Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street; Rollins also plays on half of More Study in Brown), and after Brown's death in 1956 worked mainly as a leader. By this time he had begun his career with Prestige Records
Prestige Records

Prestige Records was founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock . The record label name was initially New Jazz, but changed to Prestige Records the next year....
, which released many of his best-known albums, although at the height of his career in the 1950s Rollins was also recording regularly for Blue Note
Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards....
, Riverside
Riverside Records

Riverside Records, a United States record label specializing in jazz, was the raison d'etre for Bill Grauer Productions, a company founded by Bill Grauer and Orrin Keepnews in 1953 in music in New York City....
 and the Los Angeles label Contemporary
Contemporary Records

Contemporary Records was a jazz record label founded by Lester Koenig in 1951 in music in Los Angeles. Contemporary concentrated on the West Coast jazz, recording such artists as Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, the Curtis Counce Group , Ben Webster, Art Pepper, Shelly Manne, Hampton Hawes, Barney Kessel and Leroy Vinnegar....
.

Saxophone Colossus

His widely acclaimed album, Saxophone Colossus
Saxophone Colossus

Saxophone Colossus is one of Sonny Rollins' most acclaimed albums. Recorded and released in 1956, it is widely considered the masterpiece of his mid-1950s series of recordings for Prestige....
, was recorded on June 22, 1956 at Rudy Van Gelder
Rudy Van Gelder

Rudy Van Gelder is an Ameerican audio engineering specializing in jazz.Frequently regarded as one of the most important recording engineers in music history, Van Gelder is one of the legendary behind-the-scenes figures in jazz, recording several hundred jazz sessions, including many widely recognized as classics....
's studio in New Jersey, with Tommy Flanagan
Tommy Flanagan

Thomas Lee Flanagan was an United States of America jazz pianist born in Detroit, Michigan, particularly remembered as an accompanist of Ella Fitzgerald....
 on piano, former Jazz Messengers
Art Blakey

Arthur Blakey , born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, he was an United States jazz drummer and bandleader....
 bassist Doug Watkins
Doug Watkins

Douglas Watkins was an United States hard bop jazz double bassist from Detroit.An original member of the Art Blakey, he later played in Horace Silver's quintet and freelanced with Gene Ammons, Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Sonny Rollins, and Phil Woods among countless others....
 and his favorite drummer Max Roach
Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history....
. This was Rollins' third recording as a leader and it included his best-known composition "St. Thomas
St. Thomas (song)

"St. Thomas" is perhaps the most recognizable instrumental in the repertoire of United States jazz tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, who is usually credited as its composer....
", a Caribbean calypso
Calypso music

Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music which originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the beginning of the 20th century....
 based on a tune sung to him by his mother in his childhood, as well as the fast bebop number "Strode Rode", and "Moritat" (the Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill

Kurt Julian Weill , was a Germany, and in his later years American, composer active from the 1920s until his death. He was a leading composer for the theatre....
 composition also known as "Mack the Knife
Mack the Knife

Mack the Knife or The Ballad of Mack the Knife, originally Die Moritat von Mackie Messer, is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English language, The Threepenny Opera....
").

In 1956 he also recorded Tenor Madness
Tenor Madness

Tenor Madness is an album by Sonny Rollins. ...
, using Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
' group – pianist Red Garland
Red Garland

William "Red" Garland was an United States hard bop jazz pianist whose block chord style, in part originated by Milt Buckner, influenced many forthcoming pianists in the jazz idiom....
, bassist Paul Chambers
Paul Chambers

Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was one of the most influential jazz double basss of the 20th century. A prominent figure in many rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, int...
, and drummer Philly Joe Jones
Philly Joe Jones

Joseph Rudolph Jones was a Philadelphia-born United States of America Jazz drumming, known as the drummer for the Miles Davis Quintet....
. The title track is the only recording of Rollins with John Coltrane
John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an United States jazz saxophonist and composer.Starting in bebop and hard bop, Coltrane later pioneered free jazz. He influenced generations of other musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history....
, who was also in Davis' group.

At the end of the year Rollins recorded a set for Blue Note with Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II is an United States jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter.BiographyEarly life and education...
 on trumpet, Wynton Kelly
Wynton Kelly

Wynton Kelly was a jazz pianist who spent his career in the United States. He is perhaps best known for working with trumpeter Miles Davis in the '50s....
 on piano, Gene Ramey
Gene Ramey

Gene Ramey was an American jazz double bassist.Ramey was born in Austin, Texas, and played trumpet in college, but switched to sousaphone when playing with George Corley's Royal Aces, The Moonlight Serenaders, and Terrence Holder....
 on bass, and Rollins' long-term collaborator Max Roach on drums. This has been released as Sonny Rollins Volume One (the superstar session Volume Two recorded the following year has consistently outsold it).

The piano-less trio

In 1957 he pioneered the use of bass and drums (without piano) as accompaniment for his saxophone solos. This texture came to be known as "strolling". Two early tenor/bass/drums trio recordings are Way Out West
Way Out West (album)

Way Out West is a 1957 album by Sonny Rollins. It is an example of a technique that Sonny Rollins often used called strolling, when he would solo over only the bass and drums with no pianist playing chords....
 (Contemporary
Contemporary Records

Contemporary Records was a jazz record label founded by Lester Koenig in 1951 in music in Los Angeles. Contemporary concentrated on the West Coast jazz, recording such artists as Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, the Curtis Counce Group , Ben Webster, Art Pepper, Shelly Manne, Hampton Hawes, Barney Kessel and Leroy Vinnegar....
, 1957) and A Night at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note
Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards....
, 1957). Throughout his career, Rollins used the technique, even backing bass and drum solos with sax licks. Way Out West was so named because it included songs such as "Wagon Wheels" and "I'm an Old Cowhand
I'm an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande

"I'm an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande" is a comic song written by Johnny Mercer for the movie Rhythm on the Range , sung by Bing Crosby. It has also been sung by Roy Rogers , Frank Sinatra, and Harry Connick Jr., among others....
" and was recorded for a Californian label with Los Angeles based drummer Shelly Manne
Shelly Manne

Shelly Manne , born Sheldon Manne in New York City, was an American Jazz drumming. Most frequently associated with West coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, Swing music, bebop, avant-garde jazz and Jazz fusion, as well as contributing to the musical background of...
. The Village Vanguard CD consists of two sets, a matinee with bassist Donald Bailey and drummer Pete LaRoca and then the evening set with Wilbur Ware
Wilbur Ware

Wilbur Ware was an United States jazz double-bassist known for his hard bop percussive style.Born in Chicago, Ware taught himself to play banjo and bass....
 and Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones

Elvin Ray Jones was one of the most influential Jazz drumming of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
.

By this time, Rollins had become well-known for taking relatively banal or unconventional material (such as "There's No Business Like Show Business" on Work Time, "I'm an Old Cowhand", and later "Sweet Leilani" on the Grammy-winning CD This Is What I Do) and turning it into a vehicle for improvisation. He also is quite well-known as a composer; a number of his tunes (including "St. Thomas", "Doxy", "Oleo" and "Airegin
Airegin

Airegin is a jazz standard composed by Sonny Rollins in 1954. It was first recorded by the Miles Davis with Rollins on saxophone, and recorded again by Miles' Quintet in 1956 on their album Cookin'....
") have become standards.

1957's Newk's Time
Newk's Time

Newk's Time is an album by Sonny Rollins. It was his debut album for Blue Note Records , released in 1957. Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ on September 22, 1957....
 saw him working with a piano again, in this case Wynton Kelly
Wynton Kelly

Wynton Kelly was a jazz pianist who spent his career in the United States. He is perhaps best known for working with trumpeter Miles Davis in the '50s....
 but one of the most highly regarded tracks is a saxophone/drum duet (Surrey with the Fringe on Top with Philly Joe Jones
Philly Joe Jones

Joseph Rudolph Jones was a Philadelphia-born United States of America Jazz drumming, known as the drummer for the Miles Davis Quintet....
). Also that year he recorded for Blue Note
Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards....
 with a star-studded line-up of JJ Johnson on trombone, Horace Silver
Horace Silver

Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer. His father, who was known as John Tavares Silva, was from the island of Maio, Cape Verde in Cape Verde....
 or Thelonious Monk on piano and drummer Art Blakey
Art Blakey

Arthur Blakey , born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, he was an United States jazz drummer and bandleader....
 (released as Sonny Rollins Volume 2).

The Freedom Suite

In 1958 Rollins recorded another landmark piece for saxophone, bass and drums trio: The Freedom Suite. His original sleeve notes said, "How ironic that the Negro, who more than any other people can claim America's culture as his own, is being persecuted and repressed; that the Negro, who has exemplified the humanities in his very existence, is being rewarded with inhumanity."

The title track is a 19-minute improvised bluesy suite, much of it interaction between Rollins' saxophone and the drums of Max Roach
Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history....
, some of it very tense. However the album was not all politics – the other side featured hard bop
Hard bop

Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Hard bop incorporates influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano playing....
 workouts of popular show tunes. The LP was only briefly available in its original form, before the record company repackaged it as Shadow Waltz, the title of another piece on the record. The bassist was Oscar Pettiford
Oscar Pettiford

Oscar Pettiford was an United States jazz double bassist, cellist and composer known particularly for his pioneering work in bebop....
.

Finally in 1958 Rollins made one more studio album before taking a three-year break from recording. This was another session for Los Angeles based Contemporary Records and saw Rollins recording an esoteric mixture of tunes including Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody with a West Coast group made up of pianist Hampton Hawes
Hampton Hawes

Hampton Hawes was an African American jazz pianist....
, guitarist Barney Kessel
Barney Kessel

Barney Kessel was an United States jazz guitarist born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA. He was a member of many prominent jazz groups as well as a "first call" guitarist for studio, film, and television recording sessions....
, bassist Leroy Vinnegar
Leroy Vinnegar

Leroy Vinnegar was an United States jazz double bass.Born in Indianapolis, the self-taught Vinnegar established his reputation in Los Angeles during the 1950s and '60s....
 and drummer Shelly Manne
Shelly Manne

Shelly Manne , born Sheldon Manne in New York City, was an American Jazz drumming. Most frequently associated with West coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, Swing music, bebop, avant-garde jazz and Jazz fusion, as well as contributing to the musical background of...
.

First sabbatical

By 1959, Rollins was frustrated with what he perceived as his own musical limitations and took the first – and most famous – of his musical sabbaticals. To spare a neighboring expectant mother the sound of his practice routine, Rollins ventured to the Williamsburg Bridge
Williamsburg Bridge

The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side, Manhattan of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg, Brooklyn neighborhood of Brooklyn on Long Island at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway ....
 to practice. Upon his return to the jazz scene in 1962 he named his "comeback" album The Bridge
The Bridge (Sonny Rollins album)

The Bridge, 1962, was the first release of Jazz giant Sonny Rollins following his unexpected early retirement in 1959. The saxophone here joined for the first time in the quartet with which he would record for the next segment of his career, featuring Jim Hall on guitar, Bob Cranshaw on Double bass and Ben Riley on drum kit....
 at the start of a contract with RCA Records
RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1983 and a partner from 1983 to 1986....
, recorded with a quartet featuring guitarist Jim Hall
Jim Hall (musician)

James Stanley Hall is an United States jazz guitarist....
 and still no piano. The rhythm section was Ben Riley
Ben Riley

Ben Riley is an United States hard bop drummer who has worked with Thelonious Monk, Alice Coltrane, Stan Getz, Woody Herman, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Ahmad Jamal, and Kenny Barron, and was a member with Barron of Sphere ....
 on drums and bassist Bob Cranshaw
Bob Cranshaw

Melbourne R. "Bob" Cranshaw is an American jazz bass guitarist. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the American Federation of Musicians....
. This became one of Rollins' best-selling records.

The contract with RCA lasted until 1964 and saw Rollins remain one of the most adventurous musicians around. Each album he recorded differed radically from the previous one. Rollins explored Latin rhythms on What's New, tackled the avant-garde on Our Man in Jazz, and re-examined standards on Now's the Time.

He then provided the soundtrack to the 1966
1966 in film

The year 1966 in film involved some significant events....
 version of Alfie. His 1965 residency at Ronnie Scott's legendary jazz club
Ronnie Scott

Ronnie Scott was an England jazz Tenor saxophone and jazz club owner....
 has recently emerged on CD as Live in London, a series of releases from the Harkit label; they offer a very different picture of his playing from the studio albums of the period. (These are unauthorized releases, and Rollins has responded by "bootlegging" them himself and releasing them on his website.)

Second sabbatical

Frustrated once again, Rollins took his most recent sabbatical to study yoga, meditation, and Eastern philosophies. When he returned in 1972, it was clear that he had become enamored with R&B, pop, and funk rhythms. His bands throughout the 1970s and 1980s featured electric guitar, electric bass, and usually more pop- or funk-oriented drummers. For most of this period he recorded for Milestone Records
Milestone Records

Milestone Records is a United States based jazz record label, founded in 1966 in music by Orrin Keepnews and Dick Katz in New York City. The company was incorporated into Fantasy Records in 1972, since then it has been used as a reissue as well as for new recordings....
 and the compilation Silver City: A Celebration of 25 Years on Milestone contains a selection from these years. The 70s and 80s were not all disco though and it was during this period that Rollins' passion for unaccompanied saxophone solos came to the forefront. In 1985 he released his Solo Album.

Rollins' most famous appearance to rock music fans was his appearance on the 1981 Rolling Stones album Tattoo You
Tattoo You

Tattoo You is an album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1981. The follow-up to Emotional Rescue, it proved to be a big critical and commercial success upon its release and is still celebrated as one of The Rolling Stones' finest full-length releases, despite its prolonged recording history....
, on which he plays saxophone on "Slave", "Waiting on a Friend
Waiting On A Friend

"Waiting on a Friend" is a song by rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from their 1981 release Tattoo You....
" and possibly "Neighbours".

In addition to the Stones album, Rollins has another link to rock fans. The Blue Note cover art to his Sonny Rollins Vol. 2 set was replicated by Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson (musician)

Joe Jackson is an England musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, described as a unique and critically acclaimed recording artist, whose five Grammy Award nominations span 1979 to 2001....
 for his 1984 A&M
A&M Records

A&M Records is an United States record label owned by Universal Music Group which operates through the Interscope-Geffen-A&M division....
 album Body and Soul
Body & Soul (album)

Body & Soul is an album by Joe Jackson released in 1984....
, which prominently features sax and trumpet.

2001 to present

Critics such as Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins

Gary Giddins critic, author, director, best known for his longtime work with The Village Voice.Born in Brooklyn, and raised on Long Island, Giddins graduated from Grinnell College, Iowa, in 1970....
 and Stanley Crouch
Stanley Crouch

Stanley Crouch is an United States music and cultural critic, syndicated columnist, and novelist perhaps best known for his jazz criticism and his novel Don't the Moon Look Lonesome?...
 have noted the disparity between Sonny Rollins the recording artist, and Sonny Rollins the concert artist. In a May 2005 New Yorker
The New Yorker

The New Yorker is an United States magazine that publishes reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Starting as a weekly in the mid-1920s, the magazine is now published 47 times per year, with five of these issues covering two-week spans....
 profile, Crouch wrote of Rollins the concert artist:

Rollins was presented with a Grammy Award
Grammy Award

The Grammy Awards ?or Grammys?are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry....
 for lifetime achievement
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

The Grammy Award Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording" ....
 in 2004, but sadly that year also saw the death of his wife Lucille.

On September 11, 2001, the 71-year-old Rollins, who lived several blocks away, heard the World Trade Center collapse, and was forced to evacuate his apartment, with only his saxophone in hand. Although he was shaken, he traveled to Boston five days later to play a concert at the Berklee School of Music. The live recording of that performance was released on CD in 2005, "Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert", which won the 2006 Grammy for Jazz Instrumental Solo for Sonny's solo on the song "Why Was I Born?". He won an earlier Grammy for the CD "This Is What I Do". In 2006, Rollins went on to complete a Down Beat
Down Beat

Down Beat is an United States magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years....
 Readers Poll triple win for: "Jazzman of the Year", "#1 Tenor Sax Player", and "Recording of the Year" for the CD "Without a Song" (The 9/11 Concert)". The band that year was led by his nephew, trombonist Clifton Anderson
Clifton Anderson

Clifton Anderson is an USA jazz musician, a trombone player. He grew up surrounded by music. His father was a church organist /choir director, and his mother a singer and pianist....
, and included bassist Bob Cranshaw
Bob Cranshaw

Melbourne R. "Bob" Cranshaw is an American jazz bass guitarist. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the American Federation of Musicians....
, pianist Stephen Scott
Stephen Scott

Stephen Scott is an United States of America composer best known for his development of the bowed piano , which involves a grand piano being played by an ensemble of ten musicians who utilize lengths of horsehair, nylon filament, and other utensils to bow the strings of the piano, creating an orchestra-like sound....
, percussionist Kimati Dinizulu
Kimati Dinizulu

Nana Kamati Dinizulu is one of the most well known drummers in the globe. He has performed with many great musicians like Toni Morrison, Alvin Ailey,Donald McKayle, Gregory Hines, Sonny Rollins, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, Wynton Marsalis, Jackie McLean and Dizzie Gillespie and many more....
, and drummer Perry Wilson.

After a highly successful Japanese tour Rollins returned to the recording studio for the first time in five years to record the Grammy-nominated CD Sonny, Please (2006). The CD title is derived from one of his late wife's favorite phrases. The album was released on Rollins' own label, Doxy Records, following his departure from Milestone Records
Milestone Records

Milestone Records is a United States based jazz record label, founded in 1966 in music by Orrin Keepnews and Dick Katz in New York City. The company was incorporated into Fantasy Records in 1972, since then it has been used as a reissue as well as for new recordings....
 after many years and was produced by Clifton Anderson. Rollins' band at this time, and on this album, included Bob Cranshaw
Bob Cranshaw

Melbourne R. "Bob" Cranshaw is an American jazz bass guitarist. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the American Federation of Musicians....
, guitarist Bobby Broom
Bobby Broom

Bobby Broom , birthname Robert Broom, Jr., is an American jazz guitarist, composer and educator born and raised in New York City. Broom performs and records with jazz saxophone legend Sonny Rollins as well as his Bobby Broom Trio and the Deep Blue Organ Trio....
, drummer Steve Jordan
Steve Jordan (musician)

File:??????? ??????? ??????? ?????.jpgSteve Jordan is an United States multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and music producer from New York City....
 and Kimati Dinizulu
Kimati Dinizulu

Nana Kamati Dinizulu is one of the most well known drummers in the globe. He has performed with many great musicians like Toni Morrison, Alvin Ailey,Donald McKayle, Gregory Hines, Sonny Rollins, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, Wynton Marsalis, Jackie McLean and Dizzie Gillespie and many more....
.

The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis is the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Hennepin County, Minnesota. The city lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, Minnesota, the state's Capital ....
 officially named October 31, 2006, after Rollins in honor of his achievements and contributions to the world of jazz. In 2007 he received the prestigious Polar Music Prize
Polar Music Prize

The Polar Music Prize is an international music prize. It is awarded to individuals, groups or institutions in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music....
 in Stockholm, Sweden, together with Steve Reich
Steve Reich

File:Steve Reich2.jpgStephen Michael Reich is an United States composer who pioneered the style of minimalist music. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns , and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts ....
, and Colby College
Colby College

Colby College, founded in 1813, is an American private university Liberal arts colleges in the United States located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine....
 awarded Rollins a Doctor of Music, honoris causa, for his contributions to jazz music.

Rollins performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue , occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street , two blocks south of Central Park....
 on September 18, 2007, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his first performance there. Appearing with him were Clifton Anderson
Clifton Anderson

Clifton Anderson is an USA jazz musician, a trombone player. He grew up surrounded by music. His father was a church organist /choir director, and his mother a singer and pianist....
 (trombone), Bobby Broom
Bobby Broom

Bobby Broom , birthname Robert Broom, Jr., is an American jazz guitarist, composer and educator born and raised in New York City. Broom performs and records with jazz saxophone legend Sonny Rollins as well as his Bobby Broom Trio and the Deep Blue Organ Trio....
 (guitar), Bob Cranshaw
Bob Cranshaw

Melbourne R. "Bob" Cranshaw is an American jazz bass guitarist. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the American Federation of Musicians....
 (bass), Kimati Dinizulu
Kimati Dinizulu

Nana Kamati Dinizulu is one of the most well known drummers in the globe. He has performed with many great musicians like Toni Morrison, Alvin Ailey,Donald McKayle, Gregory Hines, Sonny Rollins, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, Wynton Marsalis, Jackie McLean and Dizzie Gillespie and many more....
 (percussion), Roy Haynes
Roy Haynes

Roy Owen Haynes is an United States jazz drummer and bandleader. Haynes is one of the most recorded drummers in jazz and in his over 60-year career has played in a wide range of styles ranging from swing music and bebop to jazz fusion and avant-garde jazz....
 (drums) and Christian McBride
Christian McBride

Christian McBride is an United States jazz bassist. His father, Lee Smith, and his great uncle, Howard Cooper, are well known Philadelphia bassists who served as McBride's early mentors....
 (bass).

Discography


As leader

DateAlbumNotesLabel
1951
Sonny Rollins Quartet
debut
Prestige Records
Prestige Records

Prestige Records was founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock . The record label name was initially New Jazz, but changed to Prestige Records the next year....
1951
Sonny and the Stars
-
Prestige Records
1951
Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet
Rollins' session with the MJQ (4 tracks) and more from other sessions including Rollins, MJQ bassist Percy Heath and various others
Prestige Records
1951
Mambo Jazz
w/ Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt

Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the most well-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 records in his lifetime....
, Kenny Graham & Joe Holiday
Joe Holiday

Joseph Befumo, better known as Joe Holiday was an American jazz saxophonist born in Sicily.His father played clarinet, and the family moved to New York City when he was less than one year old....
Prestige Records
1954
Moving Out
-
Prestige Records
1954
Sonny Rollins Plays Jazz Classics
-
Prestige Records
1954
Sonny Rollins Quintet
-
Prestige Records
1955
Taking Care of Business
-
Prestige Records
1955
Work Time
Work Time

Work Time is a 1956 jazz album by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins for the Prestige Records label. The album cover pictured to the right looks much the same as the original LP, minus the purple border....
-
Prestige Records
1956
Saxophone Colossus
Saxophone Colossus

Saxophone Colossus is one of Sonny Rollins' most acclaimed albums. Recorded and released in 1956, it is widely considered the masterpiece of his mid-1950s series of recordings for Prestige....
w Max Roach
Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history....
, includes "St Thomas"
Prestige Records
1956
Sonny Rollins Plus Four
The Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown

Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated United States jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings....
/Max Roach
Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history....
 Quintet
Prestige Records
1956
Three Giants
-
Prestige Records
1956
Tenor Madness
Tenor Madness

Tenor Madness is an album by Sonny Rollins. ...
with Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
 backing musicians and (on one track) John Coltrane
John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an United States jazz saxophonist and composer.Starting in bebop and hard bop, Coltrane later pioneered free jazz. He influenced generations of other musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history....
Prestige Records
1956
Rollins Plays for Bird
tribute to Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.Parker is widely considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians, along with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington....
, recorded 10th May 1956
Prestige Records
1956
Sonny Boy
tracks from the 12th July 1956 and 10th May 1956 dates
Prestige Records
1956
Tour de Force
recorded 12th July 1956
Prestige Records
1956
Sonny Rollins, Vol. 1
-
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards....
1957
Alternate Takes
-
Contemporary Records
Contemporary Records

Contemporary Records was a jazz record label founded by Lester Koenig in 1951 in music in Los Angeles. Contemporary concentrated on the West Coast jazz, recording such artists as Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, the Curtis Counce Group , Ben Webster, Art Pepper, Shelly Manne, Hampton Hawes, Barney Kessel and Leroy Vinnegar....
1957
Way Out West
Way Out West (album)

Way Out West is a 1957 album by Sonny Rollins. It is an example of a technique that Sonny Rollins often used called strolling, when he would solo over only the bass and drums with no pianist playing chords....
piano-less trio w Ray Brown
Ray Brown (musician)

Raymond Matthews Brown was an United States jazz double bassist. He is considered by many one of the masters of his instrument, as he developed an almost perfect sense of timekeeping and had a hard swing feel to his lines....
 and Shelly Manne
Shelly Manne

Shelly Manne , born Sheldon Manne in New York City, was an American Jazz drumming. Most frequently associated with West coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, Swing music, bebop, avant-garde jazz and Jazz fusion, as well as contributing to the musical background of...
 
Contemporary Records
1957
Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2
a line-up of stars including Monk, Art Blakey, Horace Silver and JJ Johnson
Blue Note Records
1957
Wail March
-
Blue Note Records
1957
Sonny's Time
-
Jazzland Records
1956
The Sound of Sonny
w pianist Sonny Clark
Sonny Clark

Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark was an United States hard bop pianist. An underappreciated jazz artist during his time, Clark's work has become much more widely known after his death....
Riverside Records
Riverside Records

Riverside Records, a United States record label specializing in jazz, was the raison d'etre for Bill Grauer Productions, a company founded by Bill Grauer and Orrin Keepnews in 1953 in music in New York City....
1957
Newk's Time
Newk's Time

Newk's Time is an album by Sonny Rollins. It was his debut album for Blue Note Records , released in 1957. Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ on September 22, 1957....
Wynton Kelly
Wynton Kelly

Wynton Kelly was a jazz pianist who spent his career in the United States. He is perhaps best known for working with trumpeter Miles Davis in the '50s....
 on piano, Doug Watkins
Doug Watkins

Douglas Watkins was an United States hard bop jazz double bassist from Detroit.An original member of the Art Blakey, he later played in Horace Silver's quintet and freelanced with Gene Ammons, Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Sonny Rollins, and Phil Woods among countless others....
 on bass, and Philly Joe Jones
Philly Joe Jones

Joseph Rudolph Jones was a Philadelphia-born United States of America Jazz drumming, known as the drummer for the Miles Davis Quintet....
 on drums.
Blue Note Records
1957
Night at the Village Vanguard
Night at the Village Vanguard

A Night at the Village Vanguard is an album by Sonny Rollins....
2 live sets of sax/bass/drum trios, Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones

Elvin Ray Jones was one of the most influential Jazz drumming of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
 on drums
Blue Note Records
1957
Sonny Rollins Plays/Jimmy Cleveland Plays
w/ Jimmy Cleveland
Jimmy Cleveland

Jimmy Cleveland was an United States jazz trombone virtuoso born in Wartrace, Tennessee.Cleveland worked with many well-known jazz musicians, including Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Quincy Jones, Lucky Thompson, Gigi Gryce, Oscar Peterson, Oscar Pettiford and James Brown....
Period Records
1957
European Concerts
-
Bandstand Records
1957
Sonny Side Up
Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie [/g?'l?spi/] was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children....
, Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt

Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the most well-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 records in his lifetime....
 and Sonny Rollins
 Verve Records
Verve Records

Verve Records is an United States Jazz record label now owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels: Norgran Records and Clef Records and material which had been licensed to Mercury Records previously....
1957
Dizzy Gillespie Duets with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt
more tracks from the Sonny Side Up sessions
 Verve Records
Verve Records

Verve Records is an United States Jazz record label now owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels: Norgran Records and Clef Records and material which had been licensed to Mercury Records previously....
1958
Freedom Suite
with Oscar Pettiford
Oscar Pettiford

Oscar Pettiford was an United States jazz double bassist, cellist and composer known particularly for his pioneering work in bebop....
 on bass and Max Roach
Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history....
 on drums
Riverside Records
1958
Shadow Waltz
-
Jazzland Records
1958
Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass
-
Verve Records
Verve Records

Verve Records is an United States Jazz record label now owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels: Norgran Records and Clef Records and material which had been licensed to Mercury Records previously....
1958
Brass & Trio
-
Verve Records
1958
Quartet
-
Verve Records
1958
Sonny Rollins at Music Inn, Teddy Edward's at Falcon's Lair
w/ Teddy Edwards
Teddy Edwards

Theodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards was an United States jazz tenor saxophonist based on the West Coast of the US.Some people consider him to be one of the most influential Saxophonists in American history....
Metrojazz
1958
Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders
with West Coast musicians Hampton Hawes
Hampton Hawes

Hampton Hawes was an African American jazz pianist....
, Barney Kessel
Barney Kessel

Barney Kessel was an United States jazz guitarist born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA. He was a member of many prominent jazz groups as well as a "first call" guitarist for studio, film, and television recording sessions....
, Leroy Vinnegar
Leroy Vinnegar

Leroy Vinnegar was an United States jazz double bass.Born in Indianapolis, the self-taught Vinnegar established his reputation in Los Angeles during the 1950s and '60s....
 and Shelly Manne
Shelly Manne

Shelly Manne , born Sheldon Manne in New York City, was an American Jazz drumming. Most frequently associated with West coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, Swing music, bebop, avant-garde jazz and Jazz fusion, as well as contributing to the musical background of...
 
Contemporary Records
1959
In Stockholm (1959)
-
Dragon Records
Dragon Records

Dragon Records is a Sweden Jazz record label which was founded by the journalist Lars Westin in 1975 in music. Westin was then the editor of OJ ; Westin now runs the company with Leif Collin ....
1959
Aix-En-Provence
Aix-en-Provence

Aix or Aix-en-Provence , to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a communes of France in southern France, some north of Marseille....
-
Royal Jazz Records
1959
Saxes in Stereo
-
Riverside Records
Riverside Records

Riverside Records, a United States record label specializing in jazz, was the raison d'etre for Bill Grauer Productions, a company founded by Bill Grauer and Orrin Keepnews in 1953 in music in New York City....
1962
The Bridge
The Bridge (Sonny Rollins album)

The Bridge, 1962, was the first release of Jazz giant Sonny Rollins following his unexpected early retirement in 1959. The saxophone here joined for the first time in the quartet with which he would record for the next segment of his career, featuring Jim Hall on guitar, Bob Cranshaw on Double bass and Ben Riley on drum kit....
his return from hiding, with guitarist Jim Hall
Jim Hall (musician)

James Stanley Hall is an United States jazz guitarist....
, Bob Cranshaw
Bob Cranshaw

Melbourne R. "Bob" Cranshaw is an American jazz bass guitarist. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the American Federation of Musicians....
 on bass, and Ben Riley
Ben Riley

Ben Riley is an United States hard bop drummer who has worked with Thelonious Monk, Alice Coltrane, Stan Getz, Woody Herman, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Ahmad Jamal, and Kenny Barron, and was a member with Barron of Sphere ....
 on drums
Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records

Bluebird Records is a sub-record label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 in music to counter ARC Records in the "3 records for a dollar" market....
1962
The Quartets featuring Jim Hall
w/ Jim Hall
Jim Hall (musician)

James Stanley Hall is an United States jazz guitarist....
Bluebird Records
1962
What's New?
-
Bluebird Records
1962
Alternatives
-
Bluebird Records
1962
On the Outside
-
Bluebird Records
1962
Our Man in Jazz
avant-garde jazz with Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman is an United States saxophoneist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1950s and 1960s....
 sidemen Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)

Don Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz trumpeter whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and who would go on to live and work with a wide variety of musicians in many parts of the world....
 and Billy Higgins
Billy Higgins

Billy Higgins was an United States Jazz drumming. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.He played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958....
RCA Victor
1963
Sonny Meets Hawk!
duets with tenor saxist Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Randolph Hawkins , nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was a prominent jazz Tenor saxophone.He is commonly regarded as the first important and influential jazz musician to use the instrument: Joachim E....
 and pianist Paul Bley
Paul Bley

Paul Bley, Order of Canada is known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing....
RCA Records
RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1983 and a partner from 1983 to 1986....
1963
All the Things You Are
-
Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records

Bluebird Records is a sub-record label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 in music to counter ARC Records in the "3 records for a dollar" market....
1963
Stuttgart
-
Jazz Anthology
1963
Live In paris
-
Magnetic Records
1964
Now's The Time
Thad Jones
Thad Jones

Thaddeus Joseph Jones was an United States jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader....
 on trumpet, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is a jazz pianist and composer. He embraces elements of rock and roll and soul music while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz....
 on piano, Bob Cranshaw
Bob Cranshaw

Melbourne R. "Bob" Cranshaw is an American jazz bass guitarist. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the American Federation of Musicians....
 on bass, and Roy McCurdy
Roy McCurdy

Roy McCurdy, born November 28, 1936 in Rochester, New York, is a Jazz drumming.Before joining Cannonball Adderley's Quintet in 1965 and staying with the band until Adderley's death in 1975, he had played with Chuck Mangione and Gap Mangione in the Jazz Brothers , as well as with Bobby Timmons, Betty Carter and Sonny Rollins ....
 on drums
RCA Victor
1964
Sonny Rollins & Co. 1964
-
Bluebird Records
1964
Three in Jazz
-
RCA Records
RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1983 and a partner from 1983 to 1986....
1964
The Standard Sonny Rollins
-
RCA Records|-
1966
Alfie
The soundtrack to the Michael Caine
Michael Caine

Sir Michael Caine Order of the British Empire , is a two-time Academy Award and multiple BAFTA Award and Golden Globe winning England film actor who has appeared in more than one hundred films....
 film, but definitely a jazz record
Impulse
1966
Sonny Rollins On Impulse
-
Impulse
1966
East Broadway Run Down
East Broadway Run Down

East Broadway Run Down is a 1966 album by legendary jazz tenor saxophone Sonny Rollins, his last album before industry pressures led him to take a six year hiatus....
with John Coltrane
John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an United States jazz saxophonist and composer.Starting in bebop and hard bop, Coltrane later pioneered free jazz. He influenced generations of other musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history....
 sidemen Jimmy Garrison
Jimmy Garrison

Jimmy Garrison was an United States jazz double bassist best known for his long association with John Coltrane from 1961 – 1967. ...
 and Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones

Elvin Ray Jones was one of the most influential Jazz drumming of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
Impulse
1978
Don't Stop the Carnival
Live with an electric group including Billy Cobham and trumpeter Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II is an United States jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter.BiographyEarly life and education...
 
1985
The Solo Album
Live at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, USA, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues....
Milestone
1986
G-Man
-
Milestone
1996
+3
-
Milestone
1998
Global Warming
-
Milestone
2000
This Is What I Do
Milestone
2001
Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert
Live in Boston, four days after 9/11
 
2006
Sonny, Please
Sonny, Please

Sonny, Please is a 2006 album by jazz tenor saxophone Sonny Rollins. It was released on the Doxy Records label and features performances by Rollins, Clifton Anderson, Bobby Broom, Bob Cranshaw, Steve Jordan , Kimati Dinizulu, and Joe Corsello....
Emarcy/Doxy Records
2008
Road Shows vol 1
Emarcy/Doxy Records


As sideman

With Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
  • Dig
    Dig (Miles Davis album)

    Dig is an LP album by Miles Davis on Prestige Records, catalogue number 7012. Initially released in the ten-inch format in 1951, at a time when the twelve-inch LP format was reserved for classical music; it was later reissued as a twelve-inch LP with additional tracks....
     (1951)
  • Blue Period
    Blue Period (album)

    Blue Period is an album by Miles Davis....
     (1951)
  • Bags' Groove
    Bags' Groove

    Bags' Groove is a jazz album recorded by Miles Davis in 1954 in music for Prestige Records. Both takes of the title track come from a session on December, 24 1954 ....
     (1954)
With Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer.Widely considered one of the most important musicians in jazz -- he is one of only three jazz musicians to be featured on the cover of Time magazine -- Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epi...
  • Brilliant Corners
    Brilliant Corners

    Brilliant Corners is a 1957 in music album by jazz musician Thelonious Monk. It was his third album for the Riverside Records label and the first, for this label, to include his own compositions....
     (1957)
With Max Roach
Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history....
  • Max Roach Plus Four
    Max Roach Plus Four

    Max Roach + 4 is an long play recorded by jazz drummer Max Roach, which featured Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Sonny Rollins on tenor sax, Ray Bryant on piano, and George Morrow on bass....
     (1956)
With Bud Powell
Bud Powell

Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell was an American Jazz piano. Powell has been described as one of "the two most significant pianists of the style of modern jazz that came to be known as bebop", the other being his friend and contemporary Thelonious Monk....
  • The Amazing Bud Powell
    The Amazing Bud Powell

    'The Amazing Bud Powell', also called 'The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1', is a 1951 album by Jazz piano Bud Powell. It is part of a loosely connected series with the 1953 companion The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol....
     (1951)
With J. J. Johnson
  • J. J. Johnson's Jazz Quintet
    J. J. Johnson's Jazz Quintet

    J. J. Johnson's Jazz Quintet is an album by jazz trombonist J. J. Johnson, recorded in 1946-1949. It has been released in 1949 and re-issued in 1992 and 1994 by Savoy Jazz Records....
     (1949)


Films

  • Saxophone Colossus (1986). Directed by Robert Mugge
    Robert Mugge

    Robert Mugge is an American documentary film maker. He specializes in films about music and musicians.Mugge was born in Chicago and grew up primarily in the Washington, D.C....
    .
  • EPK for Sonny Please
  • Soundtrack for the classic sixties film Alfie composed by Rollins. The album of this name was an American recording with arrangements by Oliver Nelson
    Oliver Nelson

    Oliver Edward Nelson was an United States jazz Saxophone, clarinetist, arranger and composer....
    .
  • The Sonny Rollins Podcast
  • 50th Anniversary Concert Video
  • Thelonious and Theodore


Further reading

  • Blancq, Charles. (1983). Sonny Rollins: The journey of a jazzman. Boston: Twayne.

External links

  • "SONNY, PLEASE"
  • featuring excerpts from Rollins' live 1965 appearances at Ronnie Scott's