He began as a pianist, then switched to alto saxophone, finally switching to tenor in 1946. He was number 1 recorded around 1949 with Babs Gonzalez; in the same month he recorded with J. J. Johnson and Bud Powell. Rollins recorded by having Miles Davis in 1951 and Thelonious Monk in 1953.

Rollins joined a Clifford Brown–Max Roach quintet in 1955, and fallowing Red's dying within 1957 worked as a leader.

Cub's virtually all widely acclaimed album Saxophone Colossus was recorded on June 22, 1956, featuring Tommy Flanagan on piano, former Jazz Messengers bassist Doug Watkins and his favoured drummer Max Roach. This was single Sonny boy's third outing as the leader in the recording studio, however it was a date in which he recorded peradventure his right-known composition "St Thomas", a Caribbean calypso based on a tune sung to him by his mother in his childhood: "St Thomas is a song my mother used to sing, it is a traditional tune". Throughout a '50s Rollins was the leading click in the development of what come to exist as referred to as protective bop. Inside 1957 he when well pioneered a utilize of simply bass & drums as accompaniment for his sax solos; ii early recordings therein format come Way Out West (Contemporary, 1957) & A Night at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1957).

Inside 1959, Rollins, frustrated using what he perceived when his have musical limitations, took a 2nd – & best known – of his musical sabbatical leave. To spare a neighboring expectant mother the healthy of his practice routine, Rollins ventured to the Williamsburg Bridge to practice. Upon his link to to the jazz scene he known as his "comeback" album A Bridge. Throughout a '60s Rollins remained one of a virtually all adventuresome musicians in the area of. from either each 1 album he recorded differed radically from a last one. Researching latin rhythms in ''What's Up to date, tackling a avant garde in My Human inside Jazz, & re-examining standards in Currently's a Instance. He likewise provided a soundtrack to the original Alfie''.

Defeated again, Rollins took his endure (then far) sabbatical leave using the "time off" to survey yoga, meditation, & Eastern philosophies. Once he returned within 1972, it was clear that he experienced turn into in love using R&B, pop, and funk rhythms. His elastic throughout a '70s & '80s featured electrical guitar, electric bass, & commonly extra pop or even funk orientated drummers. It was in the period of time of this period that Rollins ill fame for alone sax solos come to the forefront. Inside 1985 he freed his Solo Album.

Rollins has be easily-known for even ingesting comparatively stock, jejune or improper poop (e.g. "There's No Business Like Show Business" in Function Instance, "I'm an Old Cowhand" in Way Out West, & "Sweet Leilani" on This Is What I personally Clean) & turning it into the vehicle for improvisation. Though he is non easily-referred to as the composer, many of his tunes (including "St. Thomas", "Oleo", "Alfie's Theme", & "Airegin") stand turn into standards.

Rollins' best known appearance to rock'n'roll fans was his appearance on the 1981 Rolling Stones album Tattoo You in which he plays saxophone in Slave & Wait in the Friend & even Neighbours. Although his recordings in the '70s, '80s, & '90s were non every bit critically acclaimed when his earliest recordings, he continues to exist as known for his mighty survive performances. Critics like Gary Giddins & Stanley Crouch use at times noted a disparity between Sonny Rollins, a recording creative person & Sonny Rollins, a concert creative person. Within the Will 2005 Future Yorker profile, Crouch write about Rollins a concert creative person:

"Over and over, decade after decade, from the late seventies through the eighties and nineties, there he is, Sonny Rollins, the saxophone colossus, playing somewhere in the world, some afternoon or some eight o'clock somewhere, pursuing the combination of emotion, memory, thought, and aesthetic design with a command that allows him to achieve spontaneous grandiloquence. With its brass body, its pearl-button keys, its mouthpiece, and its cane reed, the horn becomes the vessel for the epic of Rollins' talent and the undimmed power and lore of his jazz ancestors."

Rollins remains the major figure to this day. He was presented by using the Grammy Award for lifetime accomplishment around 2004.

Samples
Download sample of "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" from either The Sound of Sonny