Tributes and Legacy
Rollins is recognized for the length and quality of his career, one not easily matched in the world of music. His melodic sensibilities, playing style and solos have influenced several generations of musicians.
On September 7, 2011, his 81st birthday, Sonny Rollins was named as an honoree for the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors.
Rollins was awarded the 2010 National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.
The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota officially named October 31, 2006 after Rollins in honor of his achievements and contributions to the world of jazz.
In 2007 Rollins received the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, together with Steve Reich, and Colby College awarded him a Doctor of Music, honoris causa, for his contributions to jazz.
Rollins was elected to the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1973.
The cover of Donald Fagen's 1982 LP The Nightfly shows Fagen playing Rollins' 1958 LP Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders. The cover of Joe Jackson's 1984 A&M album Body and Soul is a replica of Rollins' 1957 Blue Note album Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2.
In The Simpsons Episode 6 Season 1, jazz musician Bleeding Gums Murphy plays the saxophone on a bridge in the middle of the night, a reference to Rollins famously playing alone on the Williamsburg Bridge.
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Famous quotes containing the words tributes and/or legacy:
“The fame of heroes owes little to the extent of their conquests and all to the success of the tributes paid to them.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)