Jazz saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins, whose career has spanned over 60 years. Jazz saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins, whose career has spanned over 60 years. (Susan Ragan/Associated Press)

No amount of verbiage can quite convey the significance of Sonny Rollins. The tenor saxophonist, who first gained eminence in the 1950s with albums like Saxophone Colossus (1956), Tenor Madness (1956) and Way Out West (1957), is not only an icon of post-bop jazz, but of the very idea of jazz in the popular consciousness — with his trademark goatee and sunglasses, Rollins became the embodiment of the art form.

'I take minimal satisfaction in what I've done. I feel that in this world, there are too many people who are satisfied with themselves.'

—Sonny Rollins

Over an astounding career, the 78-year-old jazzman has played with everyone from Bud Powell to Miles Davis to Charlie Parker to Thelonious Monk. But to merely rhyme off his session partners would do him a disservice. Rollins is himself a brilliant composer, a forceful, highly imaginative player and a restless spirit. In order to gain greater improvisational freedom back in the '50s, Rollins began to play with a stripped-down rhythm unit of just bass and drums. Rollins has twice taken a self-imposed sabbatical from the music business – first in the early '60s, which resulted in the expansive album The Bridge (1962), and then in the early '70s, when he sought spiritual enlightenment in India.

Now 78, Rollins continues to tour prodigiously and win awards - last week, he picked up a couple of honours from the Jazz Journalists Association, including musician of the year. He's playing the Toronto Jazz Festival on June 26 with a band that features Rollins' nephew, Clifton Anderson (trombone), Bobby Broom (guitar), Bob Cranshaw (bass) and Kobe Watkins (drums). Rollins spoke to CBC News from his home in Germantown, N.Y., about his unending pursuit of musical perfection.

Rollins opens the 2006 Vienne Jazz Festival in France. Rollins opens the 2006 Vienne Jazz Festival in France. (Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images)

Q: The media often talks about the diminished role of jazz in the popular consciousness. What's your take?

A: If I can paraphrase Jacques Brel, jazz is alive and well and living all over the world. People love jazz and the audiences are sometimes people from [the old] era, but we also have a lot of young people. I've always prided myself on having a mixed audience, young and old. I would say that jazz is in good shape.

Q: I suppose that what jazz will always have going for it is that it's an incredibly exciting thing to watch live.

A: I have been criticized for not being as good on record as I am in performance, so that [rule] might hold true for me – if one accepts that as reality.

Q: It doesn't sound like you accept it as reality, this idea that you're better live than on record.

A: Well, in some cases, it's true. The type of music we play is spontaneous, and there's always going to be an edge to my live performance, when you have all these spontaneous elements at play. So it's a little unfair to make that comparison, really.

Rollins and actress Edwina Carol circa 1966. Rollins and actress Edwina Carol circa 1966. (Central Press/Getty Images)

Q: I notice there's no pianist in your current touring group. You've had troubles with piano players over the years.

A: That is true, yes.

Q: Why is that?

A: The piano is a very prominent sound in any kind of an ensemble – a small ensemble particularly makes the piano a determinative instrument. So that's mainly been my problems with [pianos] at times, because I like to have freedom. I don't like to be led, and it's very easy with a dominant instrument like a piano to lead, by playing chords which might negate what I'm doing, dictate that we go in a certain direction.

Q: It sounds like piano players keep you on a leash.

A: You could say that, although I wouldn't want piano players to get further angry at me.

Q: But you have played with them in the past, perhaps most famously with Thelonious Monk.

A: Some piano players are more sensitive to the front-line soloists than others. That's one thing. In the case of Thelonious Monk, Thelonious was a musician who sometimes sat out for whole choruses at a time; he was a very sparse accompanist. But more than that, it's a matter of sensitivity – ways not to dominate the direction of the chordal structure. And there are some [pianists who are] better at it than others. My compromise, to hear the harmonic-chordal elements, is to use guitars. Guitars provide the harmonics, but they're not as dominant as pianos.

Q: How satisfying is it to do solo performances?

A: I've done some stabs at it, and I've had success with it. The problem now is that it's extremely physically arduous, and whereas that wasn't a problem in prior years, it's somewhat of a problem today. I play snatches of unaccompanied solos within the context of the group, but to play a whole concert by myself, that's a little beyond my capabilities now.

Q: How do you stay so physically fit?

A: Back in the 1950s, I began to be aware of physical fitness and I began to do a lot of things – I began lifting weights, I began doing yoga, which I still do, and I also got interested in nutrition. So I think those things have kept me fairly healthy and able to play with the vigour that I'm often accused of. [Laughs.]

Rollins acknowledges applause during the ceremony for the 2007 Polar Music Prize in Stockholm. Rollins acknowledges applause during the ceremony for the 2007 Polar Music Prize in Stockholm. (Henrik Montgomery/Scanpix/Reuters)

Q: You've said that Sonny Rollins is a "work in progress." How much satisfaction do you take in your career thus far?

A: You know, I take minimal satisfaction in what I've done. I feel that in this world, there are too many people who are satisfied with themselves, and satisfied with what they do and who they are. I'm very afraid of getting into that, and being content with something that I've done in the past. I know I've done some things that have had some positive influence in our field, but I have so much more that I want to do. And it's a genuine feeling. Some people say, "Oh, he's modest." I'm not modest at all; I just know what I'm looking for.

Music is such a wonderful art form, and it changes all the time. It's like nature: some days are cloudy, some days are rainy – it's always something new, something creative happening. I've really tuned into that part of my playing.

Q: This constant need for self-improvement is a quality you you share with John Coltrane. Is that kind of striving true for all jazz musicians, or are you and Coltrane a special breed?

A: I think we're probably a special breed. Coltrane and I used to exchange a lot of spiritual literature back in the '50s, and he's always been of that mind.

Q: At the end of a busy day, what do you listen to for pleasure?

A: For a long time, I've had a problem listening to music [for pleasure]. People send me music, but it's hard for me to listen to music. I'm trying to get back to that kind of frame of mind. At this point in my life, there really is no "end of the day." My life isn't segmented like that.

After I lost my wife a few years ago, I got into the habit of having the TV on. It's completely a waste, and I realize that. I really have no pastimes — I don't play golf. I'm centered on improving my music, my self, you know, just keeping up with the place I've gotten to.

Sonny Rollins plays the Toronto Jazz Festival on June 26, Vancouver on June 29 and the Sasktel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival on July 2.

Andre Mayer writes about the arts for CBCNews.ca.