Jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, the Saxophone Colossus, died Monday at his Woodstock, N.Y. home, age 95, publicist Terri Hinte said. He switched from piano to sax at seven, honed his craft with Harlem peers Jackie McLean and Art Taylor, and after a prison stint and heroin recovery rejoined Miles Davis for the 1951 Dig session.

In the 1950s Rollins cut landmark sideman dates with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie, and led Prestige sessions such as Saxophone Colossus (1957) and Tenor Madness with a young John Coltrane. He later recorded Way Out West with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne, pioneering a piano‑free trio that inspired Ornette Coleman. The Library of Congress entered Saxophone Colossus into the National Recording Registry in 2017.

Rollins kept performing into his nineties, notable for a 1981 sax solo on the Rolling Stones “Waiting on a Friend” and a 2001 post‑9/11 recording still made after evacuating his Manhattan apartment. He once said creative life continues beyond this existence, a sentiment echoed by fans who regard his relentless improvisational standard as unmatched. His death marks the loss of a living jazz archive.