Sonny Rollins - After the Bridge @320 (1964)

Sonny Rollins - After The Bridge (1964)He took me into the room set aside for his exclusive use. Spartan and immaculate, it contained his saxophone… a piano, a copy of the Rosicrucian Creed, a mountain of sheet music, and a set of bar bells. —Joe Goldberg, Jazz Masters of the ‘50s



In 1960, when the ever-private Sonny Rollins permitted jazz journalist Joe Goldberg into his sanctum sanctorum, the tenor saxophonist was approaching his 30th birthday. More than ten years had passed since his recording debut, five since the release of his stunning, self-defining album Saxophone Colossus.



His was a powerful instrumental voice filled with endless energy, rhythmic excitement and a fluid outpouring of melodic ideas. He was widely esteemed and acknowledged as one of the giants of his generation.



Yet, to Rollins, something was deeply amiss. Dissatisfied with his playing, he placed himself in a creative exile: he stopped performing in public, did not answer his phone, and was discovered practicing alone on the walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge. After months of rumors, Rollins wrote to Down Beat magazine, choosing his words with care to explain his disappearance.



“I am at present engaged in numerous pursuits, the most pressing of which are my writing and composing. These endeavors are demanding of the greater portion of my time, concentration and energies and, I feel, will best be seen to fruition by my maintaining a certain amount of seclusion…”



Rollins’ absence only amplified his renown. An adoring, curious public awaited his return, and the tenor titan, who could be acutely self-aware and was always self-effacing, knew it. “You won’t be surprised when you hear me,” he warned while still off the scene. “I’m playing just about the way I did before, only I think much better.”



The first fruit of his period of self-imposed seclusion was The Bridge, released in 1962. This LP follows on from there.

CD101 Fifty-Second Street Theme 15:54

02 Django 5:28

03 Now's the Time 16:00

04 I Remember Clifford 6:33CD201 St. Thomas 3:09

02 Afternoon in Paris 3:06

03 Four I 6:57

04 Four II 8:57

05 Winter Wonderland 5:24

06 When You Wish Upon a Star 3:27

07 Trav'Lin' Light 13:30



Thad Jones (cor) Sonny Rollins (ts) Bob Cranshaw (b) Roy McCurdy (d)

NYC, January 20, 1964



I Remember Clifford



Sonny Rollins (ts) Herbie Hancock (p -2,5/7) Ron Carter (b) Roy McCurdy (d)

NYC, February 14, 1964



1. 52nd Street Theme

2. Django

3. St. Thomas

4. Four, II

5. Now's The Time

6. Afternoon In Paris

7. Four, I



Sonny Rollins (ts) Herbie Hancock (p) Jim Hall (g) David Izenzon, Teddy Smith (b) Stu Martin (d)

NYC, June 11, 1964



Trav'lin' Light



Sonny Rollins (ts) Herbie Hancock (p) Bob Cranshaw (b) Mickey Roker (d)

NYC, July 2, 1964



Winter Wonderland

When You Wish Upon A Star