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…
Goines has more than 200 original works to his credit as a composer.
(Photo: Courtesy of Victor Goines)Jazz St. Louis has appointed Victor Goines as president and chief executive officer. The jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and educator has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and the Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993. Goines succeeds Gene Dobbs Bradford, who led Jazz St. Louis for 23 years.
A son of New Orleans, Goines has more than 200 original works to his credit as a composer. As performer, he appears on numerous film scores, including Ken Burns’ Jazz, and dozens of albums, including 10 as leader. In addition to his tenure with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Goines has performed with Terence Blanchard, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie, Dianne Reeves, Branford Marsalis, Diana Ross, Wayne Shorter, Chucho Valdez and Stevie Wonder.
Goines will continue to perform around the world. “I will always be a part of the JALC family, returning to perform — especially the parts written for me like The Abyssinian Mass, Swing Symphony [official recording with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra] or the music of Duke Ellington,” he says.
Goines most recently served as director of jazz studies and professor of music at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. In his 14 years with Northwestern, he stewarded the jazz studies program into becoming one of the top programs internationally. Prior to Northwestern, Goines served for seven years as artistic director of jazz studies at The Juilliard School, creating the curriculum and vision for what is now The Juilliard Jazz Studies Program. He has served as education consultant to Jazz at Lincoln Center since 1995.
“As we look to the future of Jazz St. Louis, we are thrilled to have Victor at the helm with his extensive knowledge and connections to the jazz world,” says Bill Higley, Chair of the JSL Board of Directors. “His career in education and leadership in building programs with such storied institutions as Northwestern University and Juilliard places him in the perfect place and time in JSL’s trajectory.”
“Jazz is alive and everywhere,” Goines says, “and we want people to see this city for what it is. It’s up to us to push the boundaries by listening to the various communities and meet them where they are with music.”
For more information about Jazz St. Louis, click here. DB
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
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