Sonny Rollins at San Francisco Jazz Festival at San Francisco Symphony

After winning every possible distinction including 2011 Kennedy Center Honors (saluted by Barack Obama, broadcast on CBS), the NEA Jazz Master title, Montreal’s Miles Davis Award, the National Medal of Arts, multiple Grammys and honorary doctorates, what is there left for Sonny Rollins to do? Plenty. At 82, the tenor sax titan just keeps raising the bar, delivering performances of stunning brilliance and intensity. The music world is still abuzz over Road Shows Vol. 2, which includes four tracks from his epochal 80th birthday celebration at New York City’s Beacon Theatre. It’s the latest treasure from Rollins since he launched his own label, Doxy, with the acclaimed studio recording Sonny, Please...

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After winning every possible distinction including 2011 Kennedy Center Honors (saluted by Barack Obama, broadcast on CBS), the NEA Jazz Master title, Montreal’s Miles Davis Award, the National Medal of Arts, multiple Grammys and honorary doctorates, what is there left for Sonny Rollins to do? Plenty. At 82, the tenor sax titan just keeps raising the bar, delivering performances of stunning brilliance and intensity. The music world is still abuzz over Road Shows Vol. 2, which includes four tracks from his epochal 80th birthday celebration at New York City’s Beacon Theatre. It’s the latest treasure from Rollins since he launched his own label, Doxy, with the acclaimed studio recording Sonny, Please. From his early career as a sideman with legends Bud Powell, Miles Davis and Clifford Brown to his unrivaled solo career that produced such jazz cornerstones as Saxophone Colossus, Tenor Madness, Way Out West, The Bridge and East Broadway Rundown, Sonny Rollins continues to chart a course as a true giant and perhaps the greatest living improviser in jazz. We’re proud that his performances have been a glorious part of SFJAZZ tradition across the past two decades.

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