Rollins, Sonny
Walter Theodore “Sonny” Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a leader. A number of his compositions, including “St. Thomas”, “Oleo”, “Doxy”, “Pent-Up House”, and “Airegin”, have become jazz standards. Rollins has been called “the greatest living improviser” and the “Saxophone Colossus”.
His widely acclaimed album Saxophone Colossus was recorded on June 22, 1956, at Rudy Van Gelder‘s studio in New Jersey, with Tommy Flanagan on piano, former Jazz Messengers bassist Doug Watkins, and his favorite drummer, Roach. This was Rollins’s sixth recording as a leader and it included his best-known composition “St. Thomas“, a Caribbean calypso 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 composition also known as “Mack the Knife“). A long blues solo on Saxophone Colossus, “Blue 7”, was analyzed in depth by the composer and critic Gunther Schuller in a 1958 article.
- Elected to the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame (1973)
- Honorary Doctor of Arts from Bard College (1992)
- Honorary Doctor of Music from Wesleyan University (1998)
- Honorary Doctor of Music from Long Island University (1998)
- Honorary Doctor of Music from Duke University (1999)
- Honorary Doctor of Music from New England Conservatory of Music (2002)
- Honorary Doctor of Music from Berklee College of Music (2003)
- Grammy Award for lifetime achievement (2004)
- Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2006)
- Minneapolis, Minnesota officially named October 31, 2006 after Rollins in honor of his achievements and contributions to the world of jazz
- Polar Music Prize “for over 50 years one of the most powerful and personal voices in jazz” (2007)
- Honorary Doctor of Music from Colby College(2007)
- Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (2009)
- Honorary Doctor of Music from Rutgers University (2009)
- National Medal of Arts (2010)
- Miles Davis Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival (2010)
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2010)
- Kennedy Center Honors on his 81st birthday (September 7, 2011)
- Honorary Doctor of Music from the Juilliard School (May 2013)
- Honorary Doctor of Music from the University of Hartford (2015)
- Edward MacDowell Medal (2010)
