Sonny Rollins

演出简介

Sonny Rollins, one of jazz's greatest living legends was born in Harlem in 1930.

Sonny's most significant early influence was Coleman Hawkins, but he later became enchanted by bebop. The young Rollins was taken under the wing of mentor Thelonious Monk. By the early 1950s, he was working with Miles Davis, before joining Max Roach and Clifford Brown's famous band in 1956 and later founding his own piano‐less trio. His stock rose further with the release of Tenor Madness with John Coltrane, Saxophone Colossus recorded with Tommy Flanagan, and the success of Way Out West featuring Ray Brown and Shelly Manne, as well as his collaborations with the Modern Jazz Quartet. In the ‘70s, he took time to explore fusion, before touring with a new‐found energy that still serves him today. His tracks Oleo, Airegin and St. Thomas are considered among the evergreen classics of jazz.

In March of this year, Rollins received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama.