Sonny Rollins › Similar Artists

Dexter Gordon - 100% match to Sonny Rollins

27 February 1923, Los Angeles, California, USA, d. 25 April 1990, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Gordon began his musical career studying clarinet; by his mid-teens he had switched to tenor saxophone, on which instrument he played with Lionel Hampton in 1940. He stayed with Hampton for a little over two years, recording with the band and gaining in stature so that no less Read more

Joe Henderson - 97% match to Sonny Rollins

Hank Mobley - 95% match to Sonny Rollins

Henry Mobley, 7 July 1930, Eastman, Georgia, USA, d. 30 May 1986, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Tenor saxophonist Mobley began his professional career with an R&B band in 1950. The following year, he was attracting the attention of such important beboppers as Max Roach and Dizzy Gillespie, and by 1954 his stature was such that he was invited to become a founder member Read more

Lee Morgan - 84% match to Sonny Rollins

10 July 1938, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 19 February 1972, New York City, New York, USA. Prodigiously talented, Morgan played trumpet professionally at the age of 15 and three years later joined Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. During this same period he recorded with John Coltrane, Hank Mobley and others. In 1958 the Gillespie band folded and Morgan joined Art Blak Read more

Jackie McLean - 83% match to Sonny Rollins

John Lenwood McLean, 17 May 1932, New York City, New York, USA, d. 31 March 2006, Hartford, Connecticut, USA (some sources cite 1931 as his year of birth). Coming as he did from a musical background (McLean’s father played guitar with the Tiny Bradshaw band), Jackie was encouraged by family friends who included Bud Powell. It was through Powell that alto saxophonist McL Read more

Sonny Stitt - 79% match to Sonny Rollins

Edward Boatner Stitt, 2 February 1924, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, d. 22 July 1982, Washington, DC, USA. Starting out on alto saxophone, Stitt gained his early experience playing in the big bands led by Tiny Bradshaw and Billy Eckstine. Influenced by Charlie Parker and by the many fine young beboppers he encountered on the Eckstine band, Stitt quickly developed into a formid Read more

Wayne Shorter - 79% match to Sonny Rollins

25 August 1933, Newark, New Jersey, USA. Shorter first played clarinet, taking up the tenor saxophone during his late teens. He studied music at New York University during the mid-50s before serving in the US army for two years. During his student days he had played with various bands, including that led by Horace Silver, and on his discharge encountered John Coltrane, with Read more

Cannonball Adderley - 78% match to Sonny Rollins

Julian Edwin Adderley, 15 September 1928, Tampa, Florida, USA, d. 8 August 1975, Gary, Indiana, USA. Cannonball Adderley was one of the great saxophonists of his generation. His fiery, blues-soaked interpretations of Charlie Parker’s alto legacy brought jazz to many people hitherto untouched by it. In the 60s he launched a new genre, soul jazz, whose popularity has surv Read more

Clifford Brown - 74% match to Sonny Rollins

30 October 1930, Wilmington, Delaware, USA, d. 26 June 1956, Pennsylvania, USA. As a young high school student Brown began playing trumpet and within a very short time was active in college and other youth bands. By his late teens he had attracted the favourable attention of leading jazzmen, including fellow trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Fats Navarro. At the en Read more

Kenny Dorham - 74% match to Sonny Rollins

McKinley Howard Dorham, 30 August 1924, Fairfield, Texas, USA, d. 5 December 1972, New York City, New York, USA. After learning to play trumpet while at high school, Dorham played in several late 40s big bands, including Lionel Hampton’s and, more significantly given his musical leanings, the bop-orientated outfits of Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Eckstine. He was originall Read more

Horace Silver - 73% match to Sonny Rollins

Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva, 2 September 1928, Norwalk, Connecticut, USA. Silver studied piano and tenor saxophone at school, settling on the former instrument for his professional career. Early influences included Portuguese folk music (from his father), blues and bop. He formed a trio for local gigs which included backing visiting musicians. One such visitor, Stan Get Read more

Sonny Clark - 73% match to Sonny Rollins

Conrad Yeatis Clark, 21 July 1931, Herminie, near Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 13 January 1963, New York City, New York, USA. An underrated piano genius of the hard-bop era, Clark cast a glorious ray of sunshine over some of the Blue Note Records label’s most memorable sessions. Art Tatum, one of his childhood heroes, and Count Basie, whose big band radio broadcasts Read more

Freddie Hubbard - 72% match to Sonny Rollins

Frederick Dewayne Hubbard, 7 April 1938, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Hubbard began playing trumpet as a child, and in his teens worked locally with Wes Montgomery and Monk Montgomery. When he was 20 he moved to New York, immediately falling in with the best of contemporary jazzmen. Amongst the musicians with whom he worked in the late 50s were Eric Dolphy (his room-mate for Read more

John Coltrane - 70% match to Sonny Rollins

John William Coltrane, 23 September 1926, Hamlet, North Carolina, USA, d. 17 July 1967, New York, USA. Coltrane grew up in the house of his maternal grandfather, Rev. William Blair (who gave him his middle name), a preacher and community spokesman. While he was taking clarinet lessons at school, his school band leader suggested his mother buy him an alto saxophone. In 1939 h Read more

Johnny Griffin - 70% match to Sonny Rollins