Sonny Rollins

One of the hallmarks of Sonny Rollins’s distinguished career is a penchant for “thematic improvisation,” in which the soloist performs a series of spontaneous variations on a single musical idea. Rollins takes great delight in showing that no melody is so familiar that it cannot be adapted for new improvisations.  The same idea can be applied to the saxophone colossus’s dress, especially Rollins’s penchant for strong primary colors, red in particular  We can see the way he works the color into his performance wardrobe like improvisations on a theme.