Sonny Rollins Kicks off TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival

Jazz Festival Tickets on sale now!
Saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins
at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

"Rollins who has continued to walk his own course during his more than 50-year career, is arguably the greatest saxophone
player since Charlie Parker's explosion on the scene in the '40s." - Downbeat Magazine

"The last jazz immortal." - The Village Voice

Toronto ’Äì When Sonny Rollins picks up the tenor saxophone, the world listens. On Friday, June 26, 2009, hear one of jazz's most iconic figures at the prestigious Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts as the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival kicks off its 23rd anniversary with saxophone giant Sonny Rollins.

The TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival, on its opening night, welcomes Rollins, the most formidable of all jazz improvisers who has carved an impressive career for over half a century. Working alongside heavyweights such as Miles Davis and Bud Powell before the age of 20, Rollins quickly established himself in the early '50s as the most brash and creative young tenor in the scene. Today, he remains as one of the surviving few great jazz immortals from the golden era.

At 78 years old, Rollins is still at the top of his game. His accomplishments in the last decade alone speak to the depth of his talent: in 2000 he won his first Grammy Award, with a following second Grammy in 2004; in that same year Rollins was also a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; and Sonny, Please, released in 2006, was described as perhaps his strongest studio album in a decade or more.

The sounds of jazz will have feet tappin' and fingers snappin' as the 23rd edition of the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival swings and jives its way into summer, running from June 26 July 5, 2009. Be a part of the action as more than 1,500 musicians, performing in over 350 concerts, descend upon Toronto for the city's largest music festival. Get jazzed this summer!

SONNY ROLLINS
Friday, June 26, 2009 - 8pm
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
145 Queen Street West
Tickets on sale now at
Four Seasons Centre Box Office: 416.363.8231 or 1.800.250.4653
visit www.torontojazz.com