Sonny Rollins will not now perform at the Royal Albert Hall in November during the London Jazz Festival, the festival organisers have announced. It’s because of health reasons. All of the saxophonist’s concerts scheduled for the remainder of 2013 have also been postponed. “Serious and the EFG London Jazz Festival are proud to have worked happily with Sonny over many years. We wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to working with him again in the future,” said John Cumming, a director of Serious, in a statement.

Earlier this year Sonny Rollins, who is 82, cancelled his appearances at the Umbria jazz festival in Italy as well as Vienne in France and North Sea in Rotterdam. At the time Rollins said: “This past spring, I was dealing with some respiratory issues that necessitated my cancelling several concerts. I have been under a doctor’s care, and we were hopeful that I would be able to return to performing in time for my scheduled concerts this month and next. However, I am still not in condition to perform, and regretfully I must cancel these shows."

The new statement from Rollins’ office reads: “Earlier this year, Sonny began to experience respiratory symptoms that affected his playing. His doctor prescribed rest and a course of treatment that he hoped would eliminate the symptoms quickly and would enable Sonny to resume his performance schedule. Although Sonny has made good progress, his symptoms are unfortunately not completely gone, and he is not yet at the point where he can physically perform a concert at the high level that has always been his standard. Last week, in consultation with his doctor, Sonny decided that he needs to devote the remainder of this year to rest and the prescribed therapy in order to address his current health issues. Therefore all concerts scheduled for the remainder of 2013 have been postponed. Sonny is determined to get stronger and hopefully return to performing in 2014.”