Critic Martin Gayford tells the stories of his encounters and friendships with five leading jazz musicians as a fan, an amateur music promoter and, latterly, as a journalist.

Martin recalls the lessons that he learnt from his two meetings, over the space of a 12 years, with the saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins. Martin travelled to New York in 2010 to interview him on the eve of a concert celebrating his 80th birthday, his life changed by the events of September 11th, when his lower Manhattan home was destroyed.