Sonny Rollins

I'm fortunate that I'm making a living at it now because I'm not equipped to do anything else.

— Sonny Rollins

How ironic that the Negro, who more than any other people can claim America's culture as his own, is being persecuted and…

— Sonny Rollins

I'm now a legend, whether I want to be or not.

— Sonny Rollins

I enjoy playing clubs. I still enjoy the closeness of the nightclub venue. However, after a certain period of time and after…

— Sonny Rollins

Music represents nature. Nature represents life. Jazz represents nature. Jazz is life.

— Sonny Rollins

Improvisation is the ability to create something very spiritual, something of one's own.

— Sonny Rollins

Even the most jingoistic person would have to admit that even American cultural music comes from Europe. That's what classical music is,…

— Sonny Rollins

...this is my dilemma. I'm a guy who makes things up as I go along, so nothing is ever finished - there…

— Sonny Rollins

Jazz is the type of music that can absorb so many things and still be jazz.

— Sonny Rollins

My mother came from St. Thomas. I heard that melody and all I did was actually adapt it. I made my adaptation…

— Sonny Rollins

I feel that L.A. has not always been my strongest base for support. That can be for various reasons.

— Sonny Rollins

You had many jazz musicians who lived in the United States, who had a hard time being accepted over here and had…

— Sonny Rollins

I miss playing with Miles. I did play with him a little while before he left the planet, but even at that…

— Sonny Rollins

Improvisation is really not so much remembering things. And this is what I do when I play. I forget things. When I…

— Sonny Rollins

I simply want to reach a level where I will never cease to make progress...so that, even on the bad evenings, I…

— Sonny Rollins

It's all about creation and surprise. It just needs to be appreciated and watered like flowers. You have to water flowers. These…

— Sonny Rollins

But if I didn't have to make money, I would still play my horn.

— Sonny Rollins

We have to make ourselves as perfect as we can.

— Sonny Rollins

I'll know when I find the ultimate sound.

— Sonny Rollins

The thing is this: When I play, what I try to do is to reach my subconscious level. I don't want to…

— Sonny Rollins

I have always been a person who is concerned with the dignity of jazz music and the way jazz musicians have been…

— Sonny Rollins

Jazz is an endless source of ideas, because you can use anything. You can play operatic arias. You can incorporate them into…

— Sonny Rollins

I think what we need is a more welcoming mode from the people who put on a hundred million country-western shows on…

— Sonny Rollins

I feel that Jazz improvisation is the ultimate. You have to create on the spot, the essence of this music.

— Sonny Rollins

What I am more concerned about is whether our whole civilization will be around in the next 25 years.

— Sonny Rollins