Sonny Rollins, the Saxophone Colossus, Dead at 95

Sonny Rollins, legendary saxophonist and musical improviser, died at the age of 95, his publicist confirmed on May 25. “It is with deep sorrow and profound love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins. The Saxophone Colossus died this afternoon at his home in Woodstock, NY at the age of 95,” a post from his official account wrote. “He is survived by his nephew Clifton Anderson and his nieces Vallyn Anderson and Gabrielle DeGroat. No public memorial is planned at this time.” The statement ended with a 2009 quote from Rollins, where he says, “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.”

Throughout his legendary career, Rollins was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honors, and a National Medal of Arts. While his decades-long music career was appreciated by many, he felt his music was a gift to himself, not to the world. He told Vulture in 2017, “I’m thrilled when somebody tells me that listening to my music gives them some solace or peace, but I played music for myself, too. I was getting something out of it. So I don’t consider my musical gifts as any kind of servitude. It wasn’t giving of myself, because I got too much out of it. I had to play music. I had to. It’s something I wanted to do when I was a child. That’s like a gift to me. It’s not me giving.