Sonny Rollins -

Sonny Rollins (born Sept. 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Background

He was born Theodore Walter Rollins on September 7, 1930, in New York City, the youngest of three children borne to migrants from the US Virgin Islands. He grew up in Harlem and Sugar Hill and first played saxophone at age seven. Despite an early interest in the piano, he took up alto sax as a teenager. While attending Benjamin Franklin High School, he took up tenor sax and played with fellow future jazz icons like saxist Jackie McLean, pianist Kenny Drew, and drummer Art Taylor.

Early Credits

In 1949, Rollins notched his first recorded credits on 78’s by singer Babs Gonzales, pianist Buddy Powell, and trombonist Jay Jay Johnson. On Powell’s “Dance of the Infidels,” he played alongside trumpeter Fats Navarro and pianist Roy Haynes. Between 1951 and 1955, Rollins played on numerous Prestige titles by trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk.

Rollins first recording as a bandleader is the 1952 Prestige 10″ “Mambo Bounce” b/w “This Love of Mine,” which features Drew and drummer Art Blakey. In 1954, he recorded three of his signature compositions (“Oleo,” “Airegin,” “Doxy”) on the Prestige 10″ Miles Davis With Sonny Rollins, which features pianist Horace Silver and drummer Kenny Clarke.

In 1955, Rollins joined the Clifford Brown–Max Roach quintet. His time with them is documented on the 1956 albums Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street (EmArcy) and Sonny Rollins Plus 4 (Prestige).

On June 22, 1956, Rollins recorded Saxophone Colossus at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in New Jersey.

Discography:

Sonny Rollins Quartet (1952)
Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk (1955 • Sonny Rollins Quartet)
Sonny Rollins Quintet (1955 • Sonny Rollins Quintet)
Plus 4 (1956)
With The Modern Jazz Quartet (1956)
Work Time (1956)
Tenor Madness (1956 • Sonny Rollins Quartet)
Way Out West (1957)
Sonny Rollins (1957)
Saxophone Colossus (1957)
Rollins Plays for Bird (1957)
Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 (1957)
The Sound of Sonny (1957)
Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass (1958)
A Night at the Village Vanguard (1958)
Duets (1958 • Dizzy Gillespie With Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt)
Tour De Force (1958)
Sonny Rollins Plays (1958 • Sonny Rollins Quintet / Thad Jones and His Ensemble)
Freedom Suite (1958)
Sonny Side Up (1959 • Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt & Sonny Rollins)
Newk’s Time (1959)
Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders (1959)
Sonny Boy (1961)
The Bridge (1962)
What’s New? (1962)
Sonny Meets Hawk! (1963 • Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins)
3 in Jazz (1964 • Gary Burton / Sonny Rollins / Clark Terry)
Now’s the Time! (1964)
Sonny Rollins on Impulse! (1965)
The Standard Sonny Rollins (1965 • Sonny Rollins & Co.)
Alfie (OST, 1966)
East Broadway Run Down (1967)
Next Album (1972)
Horn Culture (1973)
Nucleus (1975)
The Way I Feel (1976)
Easy Living (1977)
Don’t Ask (1979)
Love at First Sight (1980)
“The Alternative Rollins” [archival] (1981)
No Problem (1982)
Reel Life (1982)
Sunny Days, Starry Nights (1984)
In Paris (1985)
Contemporary Alternate Takes (1986)
Contemporary Alternate Takes [archival] (1986)
Dancing in the Dark (1988)
Sonny Rollins/Elvin Jones/Wilbur Ware: New York, Greenwich Village, Village Vanguard, November 3, 1957 (1988)
Falling in Love With Jazz (1990)
Here’s to the People (1991)
Old Flames (1993)
+ 3 (1996)
Sonny Rollins on Impulse! (1997)
Global Warming (1998)
This Is What I Do (2000)
Sonny, Please (2006)
Live at “Jazz Jamboree”, Poland (2010)
Rollins in Holland (2020)