Williamsburg Bridge practice sessions and sabbaticals from performing added to mystique of New York native and colossus of the saxophone

Sonny Rollins, the “Saxophone Colossus” whose hard-charging yet flowingly meditative works made him the last in a golden era of jazz greats, died on May 25. He was 95.

A teen prodigy who rose through the bebop ranks, Rollins was celebrated as one of the most influential saxophonists of his era, standing alongside Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.