The Bridge (Sonny Rollins album)
| The Bridge | ||||
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| Studio album by Sonny Rollins | ||||
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Publication |
1962 |
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admission |
January 30 and February 13-14, 1962 |
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| Label (s) | RCA Victor | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Jazz, hard bop |
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Title (number) |
6th |
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running time |
41:08 |
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| occupation |
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Bob Prince |
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Studio (s) |
RCA-Victor Studio B |
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Location (s) |
New York City |
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The Bridge is a studio album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins , recorded in 1962. It was Rollins' first release after a three year hiatus and his first recording for Bluebird / RCA Victor . The saxophone was accompanied by the musicians with whom he would often play and record in the next phase of his musical career: Jim Hall on guitar , Bob Cranshaw on bass and Ben Riley on drums .
album
Recording and publication
The album was recorded at RCA-Victor's Studio B in New York City . The jazz standard " God Bless the Child " by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog junior was recorded on January 30, 1962, the tracks "Where Are You?", "John S." and "You Do Something to Me" on February 13, 1962 and the tracks " Without a Song " and "The Bridge" were recorded on February 14, 1962.
The studio album was released as a long-playing record in 1962 at RCA-Victor. It was re-released as a long-playing record in 1976 in Japan and in 1977 in the United States. The Bridge was first released on CD in Japan in 1990 and in the United States and Germany in 1992. In 2003 there was a remastering based on the original master tapes for the Bluebird First Editions series. The album was also released many times in other formats, such as an audiophile LP at 45 revolutions per minute (Classic Records, 2000). The album was also part of Sonny Rollins' The Complete RCA Victor Recordings , released in 1997.
History of origin
In 1959, Sonny Rollins took a three-year hiatus “at the preliminary height of his fame as the star of the hardbop era” to concentrate on perfecting his saxophone playing: “I tried to revise my saxophone playing, completely. But then I got away from it. Instead, I explored the possibilities of the instrument. "Rollins" could no longer even be reached by phone, almost disappeared into anonymity. Finally, a journalist discovered him “in the summer of 1961 playing on one of the bridges that connect downtown Manhattan with the mainland.
A resident of the Lower East Side of Manhattan and without a private practice room, Rollins took his saxophone to the Williamsburg Bridge to practice:
“You stand up there over the whole world. You can look down and there is the skyline, the water, the bay. It's a beautiful panorama. You can play as loud as you want up there. And you get into thinking. This splendor gives you a whole new perspective. "
According to his own statements, he practiced there 15 to 16 hours a day in spring, summer, autumn and winter. His first record album after the end of the break and a title from this album he gave - in memory of his solo sessions on the Williamsburg Bridge - the name The Bridge .
Track list
- Without a Song ( Edward Eliscu , Billy Rose , Vincent Youmans ) - 7:23
- Where are you? ( Harold Adamson , Jimmy McHugh ) - 5:05
- John S. ( Sonny Rollins ) - 7:36
- The Bridge (Rollins) - 6:55
- God Bless the Child (Arthur Herzog Jr., Billie Holiday ) - 7:24
- You Do Something to Me ( Cole Porter ) - 6:45
Contributors
Musicians and their instruments
- Sonny Rollins - tenor saxophone
- Jim Hall - guitar
- Bon Crenshaw - bass
- Ben Riley - drums
- Harry "HT" Saunders - drums (instead of Ben Riley for the track "God Bless the Child")
Production staff of the original album
- George Avakian - Linernotes
- Bob Prince - producer of the session
- Ray Hall - sound engineer
Production staff of the re-release on CD
- John Snyder - producer
- Steve Backer - Executive Producer
- Joe Lopes - sound engineer
- Jay Newland - sound engineer
- Jacqueline Murphy - design
reception
The album received mixed reviews because it was not the revolutionary new approach to jazz that many had expected after Sonny Rollins' break. Ralf Dombrowski says: “'The Bridge' was not a brilliant all-round blow, but a moderate statement by a stylist who had regained his artistic self-confidence. […] Rollins was back and set the tone without provoking. ”On the other hand, Hans-Jürgen Schaal thinks that with the album he had made what he only hinted at with the Freedom Suite :“ Now he also overcame the 50s musically and opened up to the new freedoms. "
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide awarded 4 out of 5 stars. Down Beat magazine awarded the album 5 out of 5 stars in its July 5, 1962 issue. In his review for Allmusic Scott Yanow gave 4.5 out of 5 stars and described the album as "almost classic and a very successful comeback". British music magazine Jazzwise added the album to its 2006 list The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook the World , adding: “This was the template for all of Rollins' future creative endeavors, be they avant-garde or retro or just Sonny. Unbeatable music. ”In 2015, The Bridge was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame .
As reported by The New Yorker and Jazzwisemagazine, initiatives to rename the Williamsburg Bridge to Sonny Rollins Bridge have been in place since 2017.
literature
- Ralf Dombrowski : Basis-Diskothek Jazz (= Reclams Universal Library. No. 18372). Reclam, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-15-018372-3 .
Web links
- Training camp (Hans-Jürgen Schaal)
- The Bridge at Allmusic (English)
- Sonny Rollins at sonnyrollins.com
- Sonny Rollins Interviewed by Joshua Redman: Newk's Time at jazztimes.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h The Bridge. In: discogs.com. Retrieved August 3, 2017 .
- ^ The Bridge. In: allmusic.com. Retrieved August 3, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Sonny Rollins' discography. In: jazzdisco.org. Retrieved August 6, 2017 .
- ^ The Bridge (versions). In: discogs.com. Retrieved August 6, 2017 .
- ↑ The Complete RCA / Victor Recordings by Sonny Rollins. In: allmusic.com. Retrieved August 3, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Ralf Dombrowski: Basis-Diskothek Jazz . Reclam, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-15-018372-3 , pp. 182 .
- ↑ cit. after Hans-Jürgen Schaal, training camp
- ↑ a b Hans-Jürgen Schaal: loner with humor: the tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins turns 70 In: hjs-jazz.de .
- ↑ Sonny Rollins FAQ. In: sonnyrollins.com. Retrieved August 6, 2017 : "I would be up there 15 or 16 hours at a time spring, summer, fall and winter."
- ^ The Bridge (CD). In: discogs.com. Retrieved August 4, 2017 .
- ^ J. Swenson: The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide . Random House / Rolling Stone, 1985, ISBN 0-394-72643-X , pp. 170 .
- ↑ Down Beat: July 5, 1962, Vol. 29, No. 14
- ^ The Bridge. In: allmusic.com. Retrieved on August 4, 2017 : "a near-classic and a very successful comeback"
- ↑ The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World: The Bridge. In: jazzwisemagazine.com. Retrieved on August 3, 2017 : “This was the template for all future Rollins creative ventures, whether they be avant-garde or retro or just plain Sonny. Unbeatable music. "
- ↑ Sonny Rollins & Ornette Coleman Albums Included In 2015 Grammy Hall Of Fame. In: news.jazzline.com. Retrieved August 7, 2017 .
- ^ Efforts to rename the Williamsburg Bridge. In: newyorker.com. Retrieved August 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Campaign builds to rename Williamsburg Bridge in Sonny Rollins' honor. In: jazzwisemagazine.com. Retrieved August 7, 2017 .