Sonny Rollins The Last Great Of The Jazz Era Dies. I once met the late jazz musician Walter Theodore“Sonny” Rollins (1930 to 2026). It was in the mid 90s on Manhattan's 48th street at Rod Baltimore's ...

"The Zellerbach show, when he was 79 and still blowing his horn with phenomenal force and finesse, was the most transcendent musical experience of my life," writes columnist Stephen Kessler.

Rollins, who died May 25, had for decades been hailed as the greatest living jazz musician. Kevin Whitehead offers an appreciation, and we listen back to Rollins' 1994 interview with Terry Gross.

How is it that the “Saxophone Colossus” Sonny Rollins lived to 95? Aren’t jazz musicians supposed to die at tragically early ages? Actually, that’s a myth that Rollins and others proved flawed. It’s ...