Sonny Rollins, the last giant of jazz's golden age, has died at 95

A page of jazz history has turned. Sonny Rollins passed away on Monday, May 25, at the age of 95, at his home in Woodstock, New York, his official X account announced. "It is with profound sadness and immense love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins," it read. Born on September 7, 1930, in New York City, Theodore Walter Rollins was considered one of the last, if not the last, great musicians of jazz's golden age. His parents' roots in the U.S. Virgin Islands imbued his playing with a particular freedom, which he fully embraced—notably in "Saint Thomas," his best-known piece, built on a calypso he heard in his childhood.

From Williamsburg Bridge to India: A Life of Musical Quest

Raised in Harlem, the heart of African American culture, he made his first recording in January 1949, at just 18 years old, and quickly began playing with Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk. His album Saxophone Colossus (1956), released when he was only 26, earned him the nickname "the colossus." But perhaps it is his capacity for radical introspection that best defines his trajectory. In 1959, fleeing burgeoning fame, he took up residence on the Williamsburg Bridge, connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan, and played day and night for three years, in all kinds of weather. The experience resulted in The Bridge (1962). In 1966, he set off again—this time to Japan, then to an ashram in India, with only a bag and his saxophone as luggage. "I am still alive because I am still learning," he told AFP in 2016, attributing his longevity to yoga, which had protected him from alcohol and drugs.

Freedom Suite, September 11th, and a final album in 2006

Sonny Rollins never separated his art from its time. In 1958, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, he released Freedom Suite, an album of over 19 minutes accompanied by politically charged lyrics that were courageous for the era. In 2001, he evacuated his New York apartment, located just a few blocks from the World Trade Center. Four days after the attacks, he took to the stage in Boston and unleashed all his grief—a concert that was released in 2005 under the title Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert. His wife and manager of nearly 40 years, Lucille, passed away in November 2004. Sonny Rollins released his last album in 2006. He continued to perform well into his eighties, despite respiratory problems. "When I play and improvise, I don't think, because the music comes from the unconscious," he told The Root in 2010.