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…
“His music will live on forever,” the Onaje Allan Gumbs & Sandra Gumbs Community JazzArts Foundation said in a statement.
(Photo: Courtesy of the Onaje Allan Gumbs & Sandra Gumbs Community JazzArts Foundation)On July 5, a street sign co-named Onaje Allan Gumbs Way was erected at the intersection of De Kruif Place and Dreiser Loop in the Bronx, New York, where Gumbs lived. A pianist, keyboardist, composer, arranger and educator who performed in jazz, R&B, pop and others genres for nearly five decades, Gumbs worked with a wide range of musicians — from Norman Connors and Phyliss Hyman to Kenny Burrell and Kurtis Blow. He died in June 2021.
New York City Councilman Kevin C. Riley, along with the staff of the Onaje Allan Gumbs & Sandra Gumbs Community JazzArts Foundation, officiated the ceremony. Many guest speakers and notable musicians were also in attendance.
“The foundation is happy to announce the street co-naming of Onaje Allan Gumbs,” it said in a statement. “We are all the better for Onaje’s contribution to music. His music will live on forever.” DB
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…
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Ava Preston, a 12-time DownBeat Student Music Award winner, is currently pursuing her master’s degree in jazz voice at Juilliard.
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