Lawson Rollins

Possessing exceptional speed and classical training in fingerstyle guitar, Lawson Rollins gained prominence during the first years of the 2000s through his partnership in the duo Young & Rollins. Their musical approach merged Latin jazz, Brazilian sounds, Eastern influences, flamenco, and rock. Independently, he achieved solo success with multiple entries in the Top 20 of Smooth Jazz Airplay, such as "Moonlight Samba" from the 2010 release Espirito, "Island Time" from 2017's 3 Minutes to Midnight, and "World of Wonder" alongside 3rd Force from the 2018 project Airwaves. Global sonic exploration has remained central to his work, resulting in partnerships with Israeli singer Idan Raichel, virtuoso guitarist Buckethead, and, on the 2021 album RISE, Haitian vocalist Jeff Pierre together with longtime associate Danish violinist Mads Tolling.

Rollins was born in North Carolina and completed undergraduate studies at Duke University before obtaining a graduate degree from the London School of Economics. He settled in Washington, D.C., in 1998 and established the Latin fusion duo Young & Rollins with guitarist Dan Young. The pair issued several well-received recordings, among them 2000's Salsa Flamenca, 2001's Sevilla, 2005's Esperanza, and 2006's Mosaic.

In 2007 Rollins relocated to San Francisco to focus on solo work. His first solo album, Infinita, appeared in 2008 and coincided with the founding of his own imprint, Infinita Records. Two years later Espirito arrived and yielded a Billboard Smooth Jazz Airplay hit via "Moonlight Samba." Elevation came out in 2011 and included contributions from guitarist Buckethead as well as Iranian-born guitarist Shahin Shahida. Across his discography he continued weaving together Middle Eastern, Brazilian, Arabic, jazz, rock, and Latin traditions. His fourth solo effort, Full Circle, reached number eight on Billboard's World Albums chart in 2013.

Two albums surfaced in 2015: the new Traveler and Infinite Chill, a set of remixes drawn from earlier material. After another solo release, 2017's 3 Minutes to Midnight, he joined Israeli singer/songwriter Idan Raichel for the 2018 album And If You Will Come to Me. That same year brought Airwaves, a greatest-hits collection of his solo recordings that featured the track "World of Wonder" with 3rd Force, which climbed to number eight on Billboard's Smooth Jazz Airplay chart.

The experimental Dark Matter: Music for Film appeared in 2019. Rollins returned to his characteristic nylon-string guitar sound with True North in January 2020. A year later he issued RISE, which included appearances by saxophonist Mary Fettig, vocalist Jeff Pierre, and violinists Charlie Bisharat and Mads Tolling.