10/07/2026
“Rollins, who had begun his career as a rather truculent renegade, an outsider who seemed to like it that way, despite joyous onstage transmissions, will ultimately be remembered as a humanist, sympathetic to assorted faiths, who may have scribbled with bravado outside the musical lines, but, as Moran pointed out, eventually acquiesced to the role of cultural representative for one of America’s greatest art forms..”
As emcee Mark Ruffin noted at the commencement of an epic tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, on Sept. 19, the gigantic 125-year-old building has hosted…
