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Sonny Rollins, the towering tenor saxophonist known as the "Saxophone Colossus," died on May 25, 2026 at his home in Woodstock, New York, his family and publicist said.
He was 95.
Rollins recorded more than 60 albums across a seven-decade career, pioneering hard bop and stretching jazz improvisation in landmark records such as Saxophone Colossus and The Bridge; his calypso-inflected "St.
Thomas" became a standard.
A prodigy of the postwar New York scene, he played with Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and others, and later contributed to non-jazz projects including the Rolling Stones' 1981 album Tattoo You.
Rollins endured struggles with addiction early in his career but later embraced rigorous practice, long sabbaticals (famously refining his sound on the Williamsburg Bridge) and yoga.
He won multiple Grammys, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a National Medal of Arts and Kennedy Center honors.
Pulmonary fibrosis forced him into retirement in the 2010s; no specific cause of death was given.
Surviving relatives include a nephew and nieces; his longtime wife and manager, Lucille Rollins, predeceased him in 2004.







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