May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins Passes Away at 95
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
Saxophonist Boots Randolph, whose 1963 hit “Yakety Sax” sprouted a successful session career, died Tuesday at 80 years of age. He was taken off a respirator after a June 25 cerebral hemorrage had put him in a coma.
Randolph played on many hits as a session man, including Elvis Presley’s “Return To Sender,” Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” But his biggest solo effort was “Yakety Sax,” a tune that later became the theme song for the TV’s “Benny Hill Show.”
Following decades of session and club dates in Nashville, Tenn., and dozens of tours, Randolph released an album of jazz standards just last month.
Homer Louis Randolph is survived by his wife of 59 years, Dee Randolph; a son, Randy Randolph; and daughter, Linda O’Neal, all of Nashville; and four grandchildren.
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
To the world, James Blood Ulmer was a legend, a visionary and a musical force whose sound was distinctive and unique. To his family, he was their teacher, their storyteller and a source of strength.
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Ibrahim was an early jazz acolyte, studying the music via 78s he would buy from soldiers stationed in South Africa — who also gave him the nickname “Dollar.”
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