Sonny Rollins dead at 95: Iconic jazz saxophonist passed away at his New York home

Famed tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins has died at the age of 95, his family said on social media Monday.

The jazz musician, who was nicknamed the 'Saxophone Colossus,' passed away at his Woodstock, New York home, his spokesperson Terri Hinte said in a statement Monday.

Rollins' specific cause of death was not announced, according to his spokesperson, who noted that health problems had confined him to his home in recent years. 

The musician, born Theodore Walter Rollins in Harlem, New York on September 7, 1930,  found recognition early on as a teen jazz prodigy who showed amazing ability to improvise with the music.

Rollins would emerge as one of the icons of the bebop era opposite late legends such as Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.

In his career, Rollins had played alongside late jazz giants such as Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie, among others.

He said his longevity led to him functioning as an unofficial ambassador for the jazz genre as he was honored by the Kennedy Center in 2011.

'They're not here now, so I feel like I'm sort of representing .... all of the guys,' he said. 'Remember, I'm one of the last guys left, as I'm constantly being told, so I feel a holy obligation sometimes to evoke these people.'

He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones, performing on a saxophone solo on the group's 1981 hit Waiting on a Friend from the record Tattoo You. 

Amid a decades-long career, Rollins took occasional breaks from the limelight, constantly tweaking his style as he described himself to the as 'a work in progress' artistically.

He told the AP in 2007, 'I don't consider myself a musician that has learned as much as I want to learn.'

Rollins said that it had been 'excruciating' listening to earlier work - which garnered him the most attention in his career - as he detected miscues decades later.

Musically, Rollins remained consistently active, having released multiple albums through the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s before health issues led him to retire.

He won two Grammys on seven career nominations, his first coming for best jazz instrumental album for his 2001 record This is What I Do. 

Five years later, he won the Grammy for best jazz instrumental solo for 2006's Why Was I Born? which was on the album Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert, a Boston show that was held just four days after the attacks of September 11, 2001. 

Rollins was diagnosed with the lung disease pulmonary fibrosis, leading to his final live performance in 2012 and full retirement from music two years later. 

Rollins told the New York Times in 2020 that the thing he missed most post-retirement, was performing - and the connection he felt it established between him and the universe. 

'I played a couple of concerts early on where I was out in the open in the afternoon,' Rollins said. 'I was able to look up in the sky, and I felt a communication; I felt that I was part of something. Not the crowd. Something bigger.'

Jazz stalwart Branford Marsalis took to X on Monday to remember Rollins, calling him 'one of the greatest ever' whose 'music will live forever.'

Rollins spoke about his views on mortality in 2009, according to a quote provided by his spokesperson.

'I think when the creative person ends, he continues in the next existence,' he said. '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.'

Rollins is survived by nieces Vallyn Anderson and Gabrielle DeGroat and nephew Clifton Anderson. His second wife Lucille passed away in 2004 after the couple was wed for nearly four decades. 

No public memorial was planned at this time, his spokesperson said.