The Bridge (Sonny Rollins album)

The Bridge
Studio album by Sonny Rollins
Released Early April 1962[1]
Recorded January 30 and February 13-14, 1962
RCA-Victor Studio B, New York City
Genre Jazz, hard bop
Length 40:36
Label RCA-Victor
LPM-2527
Producer Bob Prince
Sonny Rollins chronology
Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders
(1959)		 The Bridge
(1962)		 What's New?
(1962)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Down Beat[2]
Allmusic[3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[4]

The Bridge is a studio album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, recorded in 1962.[5] It was Rollins' first release following his unexpected early retirement in 1959 and was his first recording for Bluebird/RCA Victor.[6] The saxophonist was joined by the musicians with whom he recorded for the next segment of his career: Jim Hall on guitar, Bob Cranshaw on double bass and Ben Riley on drums.[7]

History

In 1959, feeling pressured by the unexpected swiftness of his rise to fame, Rollins took a three-year hiatus to focus on perfecting his craft.[8] A resident of the Lower East Side of Manhattan with no private space to practice, he took his saxophone up to the Williamsburg Bridge to practice alone: "I would be up there 15 or 16 hours at a time spring, summer, fall and winter".[9] His first recording after his return to performance took its name from those solo sessions.[8] Critical reception to the album, which was not the revolutionary new jazz approach many expected, was mixed.[10] Rollins, who had been considered groundbreaking in his thematic improvisations, was supplanted in critical buzz by the growing popularity of Ornette Coleman's free jazz.[11]

Reception

If not a tremendous departure from Rollins' earlier style, the album was nevertheless quite successful.[12] Tagged by AllMusic as "a near-classic",[12] the recording was declared by Inkblot Magazine to be "one of the greatest albums from one of jazz's greatest musicians".[10] It is one of the albums for which the long-active and prolific Rollins receives his greatest praise.[13]

The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015.[14]

Re-releases

The album was re-released in 1976 in Japan and 1977 in the U.S., and since the 1992 relaunch on CD by Bluebird/RCA/BMG it has been issued many times in various formats, e.g. as audiophile LP with 45 rpm (Classic Records, 2000).[15] It is also part of the The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1997).[16]

Track listing

  1. "Without a Song" (Edward Eliscu, Billy Rose, Vincent Youmans) – 7:28
  2. "Where Are You?" (Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh) – 5:10
  3. "John S." (Sonny Rollins) – 7:43
  4. "The Bridge" (Rollins) – 6:00
  5. "God Bless the Child" (Arthur Herzog Jr., Billie Holiday) – 7:27
  6. "You Do Something to Me" (Cole Porter) – 6:48

Personnel

Performance

"God Bless the Child" recorded on January 30, 1962
"Where Are You?", "John S." and "You Do Something to Me" recorded on February 13,
"Without a Song" and "The Bridge" on February 14, 1962

Production

Production of the first CD Reissue, 1992

References

  1. ↑ Billboard Apr 14, 1962
  2. ↑ Down Beat:July 5, 1962 Vol. 29, No.14
  3. ↑ Allmusic review
  4. ↑ Swenson, J. (Editor) (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 170. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  5. ↑ Sonny Rollins discography at AllMusic
  6. ↑ Sonny Rollins biography at AllMusic
  7. ↑ The named Sonny Rollins Quartet performing "God Bless the Child" on a unidentified tv broadcast in 1962 on YouTube
  8. 1 2 Biography Sonny Rollins official website. Accessed October 20, 2007.
  9. ↑ Citation according to the faq-section of his own website Accessed September 7, 2012.
  10. 1 2 Greilsamer, Marc. Sonny Rollins: The Bridge Inkblot Magazine. Accessed October 20, 2007.
  11. ↑ Yaffe, David (October 4, 2007). Spirit Chaser. The Nation. Accessed October 20, 2007.
  12. 1 2 The Bridge review at AllMusic
  13. ↑ Marchese, David (August 26, 2005). A colossus nears the end of the road Pop Matters. Accessed November 16, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Grammy Hall of Fame". Grammy.org. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  15. ↑ Various releases of The Bridge at Discogs (list of releases)
  16. ↑ Sonny Rollins - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings at AllMusic. Retrieved September 7, 2012.


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