Tuesday on the NewsHour: Sonny Rollins

Sunday marks the [34th Kennedy Center Honors](http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/honors/), a ceremony recognizing exemplary lifetime achievement in the performing arts. From [Ella Fitzgerald](http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=3726&source_type=A) in 1979 to [Benny Carter](http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=3704&source_type=A) in 1996 to [Dave Brubeck](http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=17177&source_type=A) in 2009, there have been 10 jazz greats among the 165 honorees. This year, [Sonny Rollins](http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=79419&source_type=A) will have his moment in that spotlight at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., alongside Barbara Cook, Neil Diamond, Yo-Yo Ma and Meryl Streep. Jeffrey Brown recently sat down with Rollins when he was in Washington performing at the Kennedy Center to talk about his life as a saxophonist and composer:
In online-only excerpt of their conversation, Rollins discusses what other jazz greats have meant to him: