In early 2025, jazz saxophone great Sonny Rollins sat down with journalist Justin Richmond for the Broken Record podcast. He was 94 years old, the last surviving member of the iconic 1958 photograph A Great Day in Harlem and, though nobody knew it at the time, less than eighteen months away from the end of an extraordinary life.
What followed was nearly an hour of reflection, humour, honesty, and perspective from one of the most important musicians in jazz history. Rollins spoke about music, politics, race, spirituality, Charlie Parker, Jerome Kern, Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, and many of the friends and colleagues he had outlived.
Near the end of the conversation, Richmond told Rollins he hoped they could speak again sometime.
Rollins smiled and replied: “Don’t wait too long.”
You can listen to the full interview below, or keep scrolling for five of our favourite takeaways from the conversation.
1. His Political Awareness Started Before He Could Fully Understand It
When Rollins discussed his landmark 1958 composition Freedom Suite, he traced its origins back much further than most listeners might expect.
As a child growing up in Harlem, he was often taken to civil rights demonstrations by his grandmother, who was active in political causes and influenced by the ideas of Marcus Garvey. Rollins recalled marching along Lenox Avenue as a very young child while adults protested racial discrimination in local businesses.
Those experiences stayed with him.
Long before political statements became common in jazz recordings, Rollins was already thinking about how music could reflect larger social realities. He pointed to Freedom Suite as a natural extension of beliefs he had carried since childhood rather than a sudden political awakening.
It’s a reminder that some of the most significant artistic statements emerge from ideas that have been forming for decades.
2. He Love the Great American Songbook
One of the most fascinating parts of the interview comes when Rollins discusses his lifelong love of classic American popular songs.
Throughout his career, he recorded material by composers such as Jerome Kern, whose songs became central parts of the jazz repertoire. Rollins spoke warmly about seeing Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films as a child and described Kern as one of his favourite composers.
What makes the discussion interesting is that Rollins never viewed this music as being in conflict with his political beliefs.
At the same time that he was becoming aware of racial injustice and reading writers such as W. E. B. Du Bois, he was also being deeply moved by Hollywood musicals and American popular song.
For Rollins, these experiences belonged to the same world. Great music remained great music regardless of where it came from, and appreciating one tradition never required rejecting another.
3. Sonny Rollins Believed Jazz Was Simply Music
One of the most revealing moments in the interview comes when Richmond reads a passage from Rollins’ notebooks dating back to 1959.
In the excerpt, Rollins questions whether jazz should even be separated from other forms of music at all. He argues that dividing music into rigid categories can be just as limiting as dividing people according to race, nationality, or other external labels.
More than sixty years later, he still stood by the idea.
Rollins repeatedly returned to the belief that music ultimately exists as a single language, regardless of style or genre. He cited everyone from Bach to Miles Davis, seeing connections rather than divisions between them.
It’s a philosophy that helps explain much of his career. Rollins was always curious, always listening, and rarely interested in the boundaries that others tried to impose around jazz.
4. Being the Last Survivor of A Great Day in Harlem Changed His Perspective
By the time of the interview, Rollins was the last surviving musician from the famous 1958 photograph A Great Day in Harlem.
The image remains one of the most celebrated photographs in jazz history, bringing together dozens of major figures from the music on a Harlem stoop.
After the deaths of musicians such as Benny Golson, Roy Haynes, Quincy Jones, Lou Donaldson, and many others, Rollins found himself as the final living link to that gathering.
His reaction was characteristically thoughtful.
Rather than focusing on his own place in history, he spent much of the interview reflecting on the musicians who had come before him and alongside him. He spoke warmly about Quincy Jones, Lou Donaldson, Charles Mingus, Roy Haynes, and others, often focusing on their character as much as their musical accomplishments.
Again and again, Rollins returned to a simple point: many of the greatest jazz musicians he knew were also genuinely good people.
5. At 94, He Was Still Searching for Meaning
For many listeners, the most moving sections of the interview come near the end.
Rollins spoke openly about spirituality, his long-standing interest in Eastern philosophy, and his journey to India during the 1960s. He described how those experiences helped him find perspective, particularly as he grew older and reflected on his life.
What stands out is how little certainty he claimed to possess.
Rather than presenting himself as someone who had discovered all the answers, Rollins spoke as someone who remained curious about life’s biggest questions. Yet he also seemed remarkably at peace with uncertainty.
Asked about aging, loss, and the passing of so many friends and colleagues, Rollins returned repeatedly to gratitude.
He was grateful for music. Grateful for the people he had known. Grateful for the opportunity to have spent his life doing what he loved.
And perhaps most strikingly, grateful simply to have been here at all.
A Final Conversation Worth Hearing
Many late-career interviews become exercises in nostalgia. This one feels different.
Although Rollins discusses the past throughout the conversation, the interview is ultimately less about jazz history than perspective. Even at 94, he remained more interested in ideas than achievements, more interested in learning than celebrating himself.
That attitude may help explain why Sonny Rollins remained such a compelling figure for so many decades.
The conversation captures a musician looking back on an extraordinary life without ever sounding trapped by it.
For anyone interested in jazz, music, or simply how a life can be lived with curiosity and purpose, it’s well worth hearing in full.
Looking for more? Check out the Broken Record Podcast website or dig into our guide to Sonny Rollins most important songs.