National Endowment for the Arts Statement on the Death of NEA Jazz Master and National Medal of Arts Recipient Sonny Rollins

Washington, DC-It is with great sadness that the National Endowment for the Arts acknowledges the passing of saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins. Rollins was awarded the NEA Jazz Masters fellowship in 1983, part of the second class of recipients. In addition, he was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 2010.

With more than 50 years in jazz, Theodore "Sonny" Rollins' towering achievements on the tenor saxophone are many, and he was one of the most exciting and fiery players in concert. Recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians of the post-bebop era, Rollins performed with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, and Herbie Hancock, among others. He is the recipient of seven Grammy Award nominations, winning two, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award; a Kennedy Center Honor; and was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010.

In a 2017 podcast with the National Endowment for the Arts, Rollins discussed what he considered "real improvisation": "It's when you don't think. It's like Zen. You let the music play you…. I wanted the universe to tell me something. In other words, as a soloist, when you're soloing, you're not going to get lost and not know where the bridge of a song is or the first eight. No, no. That is embedded, so that's okay. So, you have to practice your material and know what piece of music you're working on. Once you get that you're not even there. You're standing up there blowing and whatever is in the universe is coming to you."