This mosaic shows Sonny musing, contemplative and reflective. I started listening to jazz when I was in the 8th grade in 1961. At that time Sonny Rollins was 31 and he was already an established celebrated jazz tenor saxophonist.
He performed professionally in the 1940’s with Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk when he was very young.
He has played for seven decades and has made more than sixty albums. Sonny is arguably the third best jazz saxophonist to ever play,according to a list published by You Discover Music.
The first being Charlie Parker and then John Coltrane. Sonny is a big man and he blew the tenor sax like an alto sax. I saw him perform at the Hotel Ponchatrain in Detroit in the 1980’s , He had unbelievable power and hand speed when he played.
He is 88 years old and still alive, but he stopped performing in 2012, he is still involved in the jazz scene .He was awarded the National Medal of the Arts in 2010, the highest honor given to an artist by the government by President Obama. I will be showing this mosaic along with my other mosaics and prints, at The Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival in Rockville Maryland, February 15-19.