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…
To celebrate the 90th birthdays of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Jazz at Lincoln Center will hold a special four-day concert series with performances on every stage at Frederick P. Rose Hall. The organization’s Miles and ’Trane Festival will take place in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, The Appel Room and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola May 12–14.
The celebration kicks off with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis performing in Miles Davis: The Sorcerer at 90. The big band will debut new arrangements and revisit classics from Miles Davis’ acclaimed body of work—from Birth Of The Cool to Miles In the Sky—at JALC’s Rose Theater.
In The Appel Room on May 13 –14, tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano with special Ravi Coltrane will perform a piece titled The Spiritual Side Of Coltrane, exploring different compositions from the elder Coltrane’s career. Lovano will be accompanied by an ensemble featuring Brian Blade on drums, Geri Allen on piano, Tom Harrell on trumpet and Steve Kuhn on bass. Longtime Coltrane bassist Reggie Workman will also be on hand for this special engagement.
Two emerging jazz artists will lead the Miles and ’Trane celebrations at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. On May 13–15, trumpeter Keyon Harrold—who recently recorded the original trumpet sounds heard in the soundtrack to the Don Cheadle biopic Miles Ahead—will lead an expansive exploration of Davis’ music in Iconic Miles Davis. Like Davis, Harrold plays music ranging from unadulterated bebop and straightahead jazz to electronically infused r&b and hip-hop.
On May 13–15, rising star saxophonist and DownBeat Student Music Award winner Patrick Bartley will lead The Timeless John Coltrane sets. Only 23 years old, Bartley has recently performed in The Appel Room as part of Divas of the Silver Screen and Moonglow: The Magic of Benny Goodman, and he also played at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola alongside celebrated jazz drummer Louis Hayes.
Tickets for Rose Theater and The Appel Room can be purchased through jazz.org or CenterCharge at 212-721-6500. Tickets can also be purchased at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, located on Broadway at 60th Street.
Limited $10 seats for each Rose Theater performance (excluding Jazz for Young People concerts and other performances) and performances in The Appel Room (excluding Jazz & Popular Song concerts), are available for purchase to the general public on the Wednesday prior to each performance. They are available only by walk up at the Box Office.
For more information, visit jazz.org. To read a review of the 2016 PDX Jazz Festival, which held a retrospective on the works of John and Alice Coltrane, click here.
—Brian Zimmerman
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
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