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Rapp on Jazz: Sonny Rollins

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2010 photo, jazz great Sonny Rollins performs during a concert in Tokyo. Rollins was a triple winner Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at the annual Jazz Awards, garnering musician of the year honors for the second straight year. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa, File)
Junji Kurokawa/AP
/
AP
FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2010 photo, jazz great Sonny Rollins performs during a concert in Tokyo. Rollins was a triple winner Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at the annual Jazz Awards, garnering musician of the year honors for the second straight year. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa, File)

TRANSCRIPT:

I'm Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.

Tenor saxophonist Walter Theodore Rollins, better known as Sonny Rollins, was born in New York City on September 7, 1930. After discovering Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong, he started playing the alto saxophone. By age sixteen, he switched to the tenor and became captivated by Bebop, with Thelonious Monk emerging as his mentor and guru.

By the early fifties, he had already established a solid reputation through his work with musicians like Miles Davis, Monk, and the Modern Jazz Quartet.

His remarkable album, “Saxophone Colossus" features timeless pieces like "St. Thomas" and "Blue Seven."

With a career spanning over eight decades, the "Saxophone Colossus" continually ventures into exciting musical realms, extending his impact on jazz and dedication to improvisation.

This has been Rapp on Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and SC Public Radio, made possible in part by Layman Poupard Publishers, producers of the Literary Criticism Series and the Dictionary of Literary Biography.