Theodore Walter Rollins was built-in on September 7, 1930 in New York City. He grew up in Harlem not far from the Savoy Ballroom, the Apollo Theatre, and the doorstep of his idol, Coleman Hawkins. Afterwards aboriginal analysis of Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong, he started out on alto saxophone, advancing by Louis Jordan. At the age of sixteen, he switched to tenor, aggravating to challenge Hawkins. He aswell fell beneath the spell of the agreeable anarchy that amidst him, Bebop.
He began to chase Charlie Parker, and anon came beneath the accession of Thelonious Monk, who became his agreeable coach and guru. Active in Sugar Hill, his adjacency agreeable aeon included Jackie McLean, Kenny Drew and Art Taylor, but it was adolescent Sonny who was aboriginal out of the pack, alive and recording with Babs Gonzales, J.J. Johnson, Bud Powell and Miles Davis afore he angry twenty.
"Of course, these humans are there to be alleged on because I anticipate I represent them in a way," Rollins said afresh of his aeon and mentors. "They're not actuality now so I feel like I'm array of apery all of them, all of the guys. Remember, I'm one of the endure guys left, as I'm consistently accepting told, so I feel a angelic obligation sometimes to arm-twist these people."
In the aboriginal fifties, he accustomed a acceptability aboriginal a allotment of musicians, afresh the public, as the a lot of audacious and aesthetic adolescent tenor on the scene, through his plan with Miles, Monk, and the MJQ.
Miles Davis was an aboriginal Sonny Rollins fan and in his adventures wrote that he "began to adhere out with Sonny Rollins and his Sugar Hill Harlem crowd...anyway, Sonny had a big acceptability a allotment of a lot of the adolescent musicians in Harlem. Humans admired Sonny Rollins up in Harlem and everywhere else. He was a legend, about a god to a lot of the adolescent musicians. Some anticipation he was arena the saxophone on the akin of Bird. I apperceive one thing--he was close. He was an aggressive, avant-garde amateur who consistently had beginning agreeable ideas. I
loved him aback afresh as a amateur and he could aswell address his ass off..."
Sonny confused to Chicago for a few years to abolish himself from the surrounding elements of negativity about the Applesauce scene. He reemerged at the end of 1955 as a affiliate of the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet, with an even added accurate presence. His trademarks became a caustic, generally amusing appearance of adapted invention, a command of aggregate from the a lot of cabalistic ballads to calypsos, and an cardinal argumentation in his arena that begin him hailed for models of contemporary improvisation.
It was during this time that Sonny acquired a nickname,"Newk." As Miles Davis explains in his autobiography: "Sonny had just got aback from arena a gig out in Chicago. He knew Bird, and Bird absolutely admired Sonny, or "Newk" as we alleged him, because he looked like the Brooklyn Dodgers' bullpen Don Newcombe. One day, me and Sonny were in a cab...when the white cabdriver angry about and looked at Sonny and said, `Damn, you're Don Newcombe!'' Man, the guy was absolutely excited. I was amazed, because I hadn't anticipation about it before. We just put that cabdriver on something terrible. Sonny started talking about what affectionate of pitches he was traveling to bandy Stan Musial, the abundant hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals, that evening..."
In 1956, Sonny began recording the aboriginal of a alternation of battleground recordings issued beneath his own name: Valse Hot alien the practice, now common, of arena bop in 3/4 meter; St. Thomas accomplished his explorations of calypso patterns; and Blue 7 was hailed by Gunther Schuller as demonstrating a new address of "thematic improvisation," in which the accompanist develops motifs extracted from his theme. Way Out West (1957), Rollins's aboriginal anthology application a leash of saxophone, bifold bass, and drums, offered a band-aid to his longstanding difficulties with adverse pianists, and exemplified his amusing adeptness to ad-lib on antiquated actual (Wagon Wheels, I'm an Old Cowhand). It Could Happen to You (also 1957) was the aboriginal in a continued alternation of unaccompanied abandoned recordings, and The Freedom Suite (1958) adumbrated the political stances taken in applesauce in the 1960s. During the years 1956 to 1958 Rollins was broadly admired as the a lot of accomplished and avant-garde tenor saxophonist in jazz.
Rollins's aboriginal examples of the unaccompanied abandoned arena that would become a specialty aswell appeared in this period; yet the perpetually annoyed saxophonist questioned the acclamation his music was attracting, and amid 1959 and backward `61 withdrew from accessible performance.
Sonny remembers that he took his leave of absence from the arena because "I was accepting actual acclaimed at the time and I acquainted I bare to besom up on assorted aspects of my craft. I acquainted I was accepting too much, too soon, so I said, delay a minute, I'm traveling to do it my way. I wasn't traveling to let humans advance me out there, so I could abatement down. I capital to get myself together, on my own. I acclimated to convenance on the Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge because I was active on the Lower East Side at the time."
When he alternate to activity in aboriginal `62, his aboriginal recording was appropriately blue-blooded The Bridge. By the mid 60's, his reside sets became grand, chase stream-of-consciousness solos area he would alarm alternating melodies from his all-embracing ability of accustomed songs, including amazing segues and sometimes almost visiting one affair afore surging into admirable variations aloft the next. Rollins was brilliant, yet restless. The aeon amid 1962 and `66 saw him abiding to activity and arresting advantageous relationships with Jim Hall, Don Cherry, Paul Bley, and his idol Hawkins, yet he grew annoyed with the music business already afresh and started yet accession breather in `66. "I was accepting into eastern religions," he remembers. "I've consistently been my own man. I've consistently done, approved to do, what I capital to do for myself. So these are things I capital to do. I capital to go on the Bridge. I capital to get into religion. But also, the Applesauce music business is consistently bad. It's never good. So that led me to stop arena in accessible for a while, again. During the additional sabbatical, I formed in Japan a little bit, and went to India afterwards that and spent a lot of time in a monastery. I resurfaced in the aboriginal 70s, and fabricated my aboriginal almanac in `72. I took some time off to get myself calm and I anticipate it's a acceptable affair for anybody to do."
In 1972, with the advance and abutment of his wife Lucille, who had become his business manager, Rollins alternate to assuming and recording, signing with Milestone and absolution Next Album. (Working at aboriginal with Orrin Keepnews, Sonny was by the aboriginal ’80s bearing his own Milestone sessions with Lucille.) His diffuse affiliation with the Berkeley-based characterization produced two dozen albums in assorted settings – from his alive groups to all-star apparel (Tommy Flanagan, Jack DeJohnette, Stanley Clarke, Tony Williams); from a abandoned account to bout recordings with the Milestone Jazzstars (Ron Carter, McCoy Tyner); in the flat and on the concert date (Montreux, San Francisco, New York, Boston). Sonny was aswell the accountable of a mid-’80s documentary by Robert Mugge advantaged Saxophone Colossus; allotment of its soundtrack is accessible as G-Man.
He won his aboriginal achievement Grammy for This Is What I Do (2000), and his additional for 2004’s Without a Song (The 9/11 Concert), in the Best Applesauce Instrumental Abandoned class (for “Why Was I Born”). In addition, Sonny accustomed a Lifetime Achievement Accolade from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 2004.
In June 2006 Rollins was inducted into the Academy of Achievement – and gave a abandoned achievement – at the All-embracing Achievement Summit in Los Angeles. The accident was hosted by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and abounding by apple leaders as able-bodied as acclaimed abstracts in the arts and sciences.
Rollins was awarded the Austrian Cross of Account for Science and Art, Aboriginal Class, in November 2009. The accolade is one of Austria’s accomplished honors, accustomed to arch all-embracing abstracts for acclaimed achievements. The alone added American artists who accept accustomed this acceptance are Frank Sinatra and Jessye Norman.
In 2010 on the eve of his 80th birthday, Sonny Rollins is one of 229 leaders in the sciences, amusing sciences, humanities, arts, business, and accessible diplomacy who accept been adopted associates of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A centermost for absolute action research, the Academy is a allotment of the nation’s oldest and a lot of celebrated honorary societies and celebrates the 230th commemoration of its founding this year.
In August 2010, Rollins was called the Edward MacDowell Medalist, the aboriginal applesauce artisan to be so honored. The Medal has been awarded annually back 1960 to an alone who has fabricated an outstanding accession to his or her field.
Yet accession above accolade was bestowed on Rollins on March 2, 2011, if he accustomed the Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony. Rollins accustomed the award, the nation’s accomplished account for aesthetic excellence, “on account of the gods of our music.”
Since 2006, Rollins has been absolution his music on his own label, Doxy Records (with administration from the Decca Characterization Group). The aboriginal Doxy anthology was Sonny, Please, Rollins’s aboriginal flat recording back This Is What I Do. That was followed by the acclaimed Road Shows, vol. 1 (2008), the aboriginal in a planned alternation of recordings from Rollins’s audio archives.
Mr. Rollins appear Road Shows, vol. 2 in the abatement of 2011. In accession to actual recorded in Sapporo and Tokyo, Japan during an October 2010 tour, the recording contains several advance from Sonny’s September 2010 80th altogether concert in New York—including the celebrated and absorbing appointment with Ornette Coleman.
Sonny Rollins was a almsman of the celebrated Polar Music Prize in May, 2007
