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…
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), along with the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), has commissioned two new compositions to honor the life and work of Frank Foster.
This is the 11th year ASCAP and IAJE have selected composers—one an established composer, the other an emerging composer—to create works celebrating a jazz legend. The organizations awarded cash prizes to composer and jazz trumpeter Tim Hagans, this year’s winner in the former category, and composer Ayn Inserto, this year’s winner in the latter category.
Their pieces will receive their premiere performances at the January 2008 IAJE Conference in Toronto.
Frank Foster is a composer, saxophonist and bandleader, best known for his work as an arranger and leader with the Count Basie Big Band. He joins a list of ASCAP/IAJE honorees that includes Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie.
For more information, see ascap.com.
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
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