Sonny Rollins, colossus of jazz saxophone, dies aged 95

Sonny Rollins, one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all time, has died aged 95. His death was announced on his website on Monday, “with deep sorrow and profound love”. His publicist Terri Hinte also confirmed the news. No cause of death was given, but the statement said “the Saxophone Colossus” died at his home in Woodstock, New York on Monday afternoon. The statement quoted Rollins reflecting on death: “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.” With more than 60 albums released from the late-1940s onwards, including collaborations with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and others, Rollins was one of the last living stars of the bebop generation , who took jazz from a predominantly dance or ballad form into startlingly expressive new territory. Rollins himself was a genius of melody, whose bright, catchy lines – whether jazz standards or self-penned – would be unpicked, extended and refashioned in improvised and sometimes epic solos. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis has called him “the greatest improviser in the history of jazz” alongside Louis Armstrong; when presenting him with the 2010 National Medal of the Arts in 2011, Barack Obama said Rollins had inspired him to “take risks that I might not otherwise have taken”. …