Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins

Sonny Rollins is the most enduring tenor saxophonist of the bebop and hard bop eras, but also one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all time. His fluid and harmonically innovative ideas and easily accessible sound have influenced generations of players. Nicknamed "Newk," he served early apprenticeships with bop masters from Bud Powell and Miles Davis to Max Roach & Clifford Brown. After 1956's classic Saxophone Colossus was released, he was heralded as jazz's top tenorist. A year later, after Way Out West and A Night at the Village Vanguard (two pioneering pianoless trio da...