Legendary jazz musician Sonny Rollins dies aged 95 as tributes paid to 'saxophone colossus'
Jazz titan Sonny Rollins has died aged 95 following an accomplished career spanning eight decades.
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The "saxophone colossus" died at his home in Woodstock, New York, on Monday, a statement from his publicist said.
The cause of his death was not revealed.
In a tribute, his publicist hailed him as "one of the most honored and influential figures in American music".
A statement on his website said: “It is with deep sorrow and profound love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins.
“The Saxophone Colossus died May 25, 2026 at his home in Woodstock, NY at the age of 95.”
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It added a quote which reads: “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, born Walter Theodore Rollins, had a long and accomplished career that goes way back to the late 1940s.
The New York-born artist worked with some of the biggest names in Jazz history from Charlie Parker to Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
Rollins released more than 60 albums as a band leader before hanging up his saxophone in 2014 when he retired due to a respiratory illness.
He won two Grammys, as well as the lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 2004.
In 2011 he received the Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony.
Rollins said he accepted the award, the nation’s highest honour for artistic excellence, “on behalf of the gods of our music”.
He studied under the Jazz great Thelonious Monk and earned his nickname the ‘saxophone colossus’ from his 1956 album of the same title.
His website describes Monk as “his musical mentor and guru”.
Rollins gained a reputation for his improvisational skills, with the legend once describing himself as “primitive”.
“I’m going with my feelings more than my brain”, he said in an interview.
This groundbreaking style helped push jazz to new limits and altered the genre forever.
Miles Davis, perhaps Jazz’s most famous proponent, called Rollins “a legend, almost a god to a lot of the younger musicians … he was an aggressive, innovative player who always had fresh musical ideas”.