Sonny Rollins passed away yesterday at age 95. His enormous contributions as a creative voice and his importance as a link to the past are obvious. This is a huge loss (to understate things greatly).
Most of the music heard on this website comes from a different time and from different creative priorities than those usually associated with Sonny Rollins. Yet aside from the importance of his legacy in itself, I’d suggest that he also played pretty damned “hot.”
Here’s one of my favorite examples:
Rollins plays the first solo on the recording, the stop-time one filled with all the little melodies that easily get stuck in your head and which swings like mad between blazing lines likely full of harmonic and thematic nuances that more sophisticated ears will pick up on. His colleagues are similarly cerebral and fiery. The whole session feels like the hippest think tank in the world: I know I don’t understand everything, but I’m happy to have some things sail over my head.
Literal dissertations have been written about his work, so I hope it doesn’t seem reductive to praise him for some simple pleasures.
Rest in peace, Mr. Rollins, and condolences to his loved ones.
The Pop of Yestercentury 
Heartfelt and on target!