Julie Kelly - "Happy To Be"

© -  Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

I thought that Holly Cooper of Mouthpiece Music and I had two things in common: [1] we are from the same “‘hood," as she likes to refer to it [her offices are in beautiful downtown Burbank] and we are both fans of Jazz vocalist Julie Kelly [Holly’s media distribution firm is handling the announcements for Julie’s new CD, Happy To Be].

But with the arrival of Julie’s latest, I found out that Holly and I have another thing in common: [3] our respect and admiration for Graham Carter whose JazzedMedia label produced Julie’s latest recording [JM 1067].

Graham continues to do good things on behalf of Jazz and Jazz musicians and those of us who are fans of the music laud his ongoing efforts.

As for Julie, what a talented vocalist. There aren't many Jazz singers who could handle the repertoire on Happy To Be and Julie not only handles it she defines it, gives it character and substance and makes it her own.

I certainly don’t want to limit anyone’s appeal through labels, but the music on Happy To Be is simply Jazz singing at its very best.

Julie is “hip, slick and cool” with the matchless appeal of Carmen McRae, Jackie Paris, Blossom Dearie, Anita O’Day, Irene Kral, Ruth Price and host of other vocalists who make lyrics sung to Jazz feel like a conversation. I think the phrase that’s used today is when a Jazz soloist “tells a story.”

Julie engages, enraptures, encharms the listener.  Making recordings is hard work, but you’d never know if from listening to Julie sing on this CD.  She sounds like she’s having a ball, wants everyone to know it while inviting you, the listener, to the party.

This is smart sounding music; Jazz with a presence, a purpose and a punch. Julie puts over a lyric because she is a musician whose horn is her voice.

And speaking of “smart” and “presence,” Julie was smart enough to have the “presence-of-mind” to surrounds herself with some of the players on the L.A. studio scene [see below for a list of those musicians who made the dates].

More about Julie and the music on Happy To Be [JazzedMedia JM 1067] can be found in the following insert notes by vocalist Kate McGarry and Holly Cooper’s media release about this recording.

Incidentally, some of you may remember Kate’s stunning performance on Smoking My Sad Cigarette from Ryan Truesdell’s recording of Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans [ArtistShare 0114] which was reviewed on these pages.

It takes a class act to know another one and Julie and Kate are very much soulmates in that regard.

© -  Kate McGarry/JazzedMedia, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“A vocalist with a reputation for refined tastes in tunes, band mates and arrangements, Julie Kelly gives us a rich harvest of songs and stories in her new recording Happy to Be. It's a bumper crop of ripe, freshly picked tunes worth waiting for; and worthy of joining the seven other smart and swinging recordings Kelly has released during her lauded career as a jazz vocalist, lyricist and educator. And while this project does feature some obscure gems from the Great American Songbook, it also contains original songs and lyrics from Julie's own expanding portfolio, even as she spotlights new material from jazz's next generation of fine composers and lyricists.

The swinging title track, Happy To Be, featuring a lyric penned by vocalist Inga Swearingen (with additional lyrics by Julie) in homage to her idol Bobby McFerrin, epitomizes the musical mindset of Ms. Kelly on this set of 11 tunes that ferry us from the familiar to the unknown and back with a sure and steady hand.

There are original song lyrics by the fine Dutch singer Fleurine (High in the Sky] and Booker Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro (I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again], as well as a tune by Phoebe Snow, the little-heard Harpo's Blues. Kelly's own lyrics are full of tender observation [For Joni] and whip-smart humor [The Blues According To Orpheus].

Typical of Julie's recordings is the stellar company she keeps, and Happy To Be is no exception. You can hear the easy rapport of old friends and long time collaborators; among them pianist Bill Cunliffe, (who ably co-produced and also provided a number of fine arrangements) bassist Tom Warrington, drummer Joe LaBarbera, and guitarist Anthony Wilson. Their spirited playing shows how they relish and are inspired by each other's company. The A-list horn section featuring Bob Sheppard, Clay Jenkins, Ron Stout, and Bob McChesney brings vivid color and texture to the proceedings as well.

Julie enlists the talents of the young John Proulx on I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again, a track that could easily be a hit radio single thanks to the combo platter of Julie's wry delivery, the duo's chemistry and Proulx's winning arrangement. Kelly's long time love affair with Brazil finds an ally in Otmaro Ruiz whose hip arrangement of the Brazilian classic Corcovado combined with her carioca cool makes sure we know it's 2014, not 1960, baby. Co-producer and friend of good singers everywhere, Barbara Brighton brings her razor sharp editing skills and a talent for keeping the lyric front and center.

But enough about the supporting cast! There's no question that it's Kelly's poised and economical singing, (no histrionics from this diva!) and joyful rhythmic drive at the helm of this appealing project. I was especially fond of her take on Bob Dorough's charmer, You're The Dangerous Type. That kind of swing feel you don't get from hanging out at Barney's all day, people.

There's no shortage of filigree ballad work either. Case in point, on a trio of ballads she inhabits and unravels each like a time lapsed photographic sequence of real life love...the steadfast sweetness of Dave Frishberg's Our Love Rolls On, intensity and longing on Richard Rodney Bennett's I Never Went Away, and the disillusionment and hard won wisdom of Roger Kellaway/Marilyn & Alan Bergman's I Have the Feeling I've Been Here Before. There's something about her sound that is utterly engaging and convincing. No matter what Julie is singing about, I believe her.

Though the dedication to craft evidenced on this recording didn't surprise me at all, repeated listenings did me one better; they reaffirmed that insightful, skilled (and entertaining!) jazz singing is not yet a lost art. Happy To Be is proof that this great American tradition is in good hands so long as Julie Kelly is on a concert stage somewhere, swinging hard and telling it like it is.”

- KATE McGARRY

© -  Holly Cooper/MouthpieceMusic, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Julie Kelly, one of the most respected jazz singers on the West Coast, is releasing "Happy To Be," a CD featuring Grammy Award winning masters and young virtuosos. A seasoned veteran, Julie has appeared and recorded with luminaries Chris Botti, Anthony Wilson, Gene Bertoncini, Benny Green, Ray Brown, John Clayton, Gary Foster, and Alan Broadbent. Legendary jazz critic Leonard Feather has said that Julie "radiates a sense of joy and spontaneity. Listening to her, you are reminded that jazz singing is still alive and well!" Known to her many fans for her burnished voice, penetrating emotional interpretations, and solid sense of swing, "Happy To Be" is Kelly's eighth CD and her first on the Jazzed Media label.

The musicians on this project feature Bill Cunliffe, a widely respected pianist and Grammy Award-winning arranger; Anthony Wilson, guitarist with Diana Krall, among others; Tom Warrington, one of the busiest bass players in Los Angeles; the formidable drummer Joe LaBarbera, known for his work with Bill Evans; and a horn section comprising A-list players, including Bob Sheppard, Clay Jenkins, Ron Stout, and Bob McChesney.

"Happy To Be" features rarely performed standards and showcases Kelly's original songs and lyrics, as well as arrangements and compositions from up-and-coming voices on the jazz scene. Consider the swinging title track, "Happy To Be," with lyrics by dynamic singer-songwriter Inga Swearingen and arranged by wunderkind Jacob Mann. Kelly says of the tune, "I loved its modern melodic line and Inga's lyric. I added the last section of lyric with her permission and asked Jacob Mann to arrange it with a modernistic post-Art Blakey kind of approach."

Or listen to "I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again," composed by saxophonist Jim Tomlinson (husband of vocalist Stacey Kent) with lyrics by Booker Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro. The arrangement by rising star pianist/vocalist John Proulx, injects just the right amount of West Coast cool, as Jim Tomlinson states, reminiscent of Irene Kral’s best recordings. Kelly and Proulx's duet creates a delightfully fresh interpretation.

"High in the Sky" is a bebop Thad Jones head originally called "Birdsong" and given new life with lyrics by Dutch vocalist Fleurine. Arranged by Cunliffe, who co-produced this CD along with jazz impresario Barbara Brighton, the tune is replete with surprises in tempo and form, giving it a unique twist while still paying homage to its original feel.

Kelly's considerable lyric writing abilities are showcased on two compositions, "The Blues According to Orpheus" and "For Joni." In "The Blues According to Orpheus," Kelly's smart and witty lyrics about the tragic Orphic legend combine seamlessly with the melodic, Monk-like line and altered, hip composition by Rich Eames. "For Joni" began as a poem she wrote for Joni Mitchell which, in collaboration with composer/lyricist Susan Marder, developed into a song full of tender observation. The track features a cerebral, Pat Metheny-like guitar solo by Anthony Wilson. Tierney Sutton calls this tune nothing less than a "gorgeous anthem" to all who love Joni Mitchell.

Since 1984, when she released We're On Our Way with her quintessential version of "All My Tomorrows," Kelly has been known as one of the finest interpreters of ballads, as she clearly shows us in Dave Frishberg's "Our Love Rolls On," which she imbues with warmth and sweet, bluesy intensity, and on Richard Rodney Bennett's "I Never Went Away," which she fills with heartfelt longing. And Kelly marvelously captures the heartbreaking sense of disillusionment in the Bergmans' "I Have the Feeling I've Been Here Before."

An Oakland, California native, Kelly has been a Los Angeles resident for many years. Her formative years included a year-long residency in Brazil, meeting and learning from musicians Carlos Lyra, Milton Nascimento and Luis Eca. Upon returning to the U.S., she became a member of John Handy's World Music Ensemble and spent a year in New York studying theory and composition at Juilliard Music School. Her live performances continue to feature inspired interpretations of Brazilian music and prompted her to ask piano virtuoso Otmaro Ruiz to write the arrangement for Jobim's "Corcovado." Kelly, who sings the song in both Portuguese and English says, "I think this arrangement by Otmaro is remarkable, and I wanted to record this unique version so others could hear his approach to Jobim. His arrangement illuminates the lyric brilliantly."

In Bob Dorough's "You're the Dangerous Type," a tune that's not recorded nearly as much as it deserves, Kelly captures the quirky and mischievous story line with her unique sense of phrasing. Her sensitivity to lyrics drew her to Phoebe Snow's "Harpo's Blues," with which she opens the program. Jeff Colella's arrangement splendidly captures its narrative arc that is suffused with a plaintive longing.

Kelly's continuing interest in world music, contemporary vocal jazz, poetry and songwriting have informed and enriched her newest musical offering, Happy to Be.

Happy To Be is available on JazzedMedia's website -ww.jazzedmedia.com and iTunes and Amazon.

Julie also has her own website - www.julie-kelly.com.

The following video montage contains images of Julie and graphics from Happy To Be as set to Julie singing You’re The Dangerous Type.

Eddie Harris - Eddie Who? [From The Archives]

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Don’t know much about multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer, Eddie Harris?

Just click on the image below and he’ll tell you all about himself.

Eddie makes me smile; he has fun with the music. Can you tell?

According to the following excerpt by Gene Lees, it seems like he always has.

© -Gene Lees, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“The late Bud Freeman, a native of Chi­cago and one of that city's most ardent loyalists, argued that jazz was invented not in New Orleans but in Chicago. It's debat­able, of course, but if you accept that jazz is an art of stellar improvising soloists, then Bud had a point, because it was in Chicago that Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines and Jimmie Noone and Bix Beiderbecke and Benny Goodman (only Goodman a native) matured and honed their craft, and set the direction of the music.

I lived in Chicago from 1959 to 1962, the period when I was editor of Down Beat, and the city was (as it is now) an extraordinarily fertile garden of jazz, madly florid with talents both native and imported. Eddie Harris was one of the natives. He was unknown outside the city at that time. I have delightful memories of cruising from one club to another with Eddie to visit our friends. I thought he was an outstanding musician, an original com­poser, and a fine player on several instru­ments. He was fascinated by all sorts of sonorities, experimenting with trombone fitted with reed mouthpieces, tenor saxo­phone fitted with trombone mouthpiece, and more. He'd show me these tricks at his house, and we'd laugh. Tenor, though, was his main instrument. He made an album for the small Chicago label called Veejay. One of the tunes he recorded was the theme from the film Exodus, which became a huge hit, and launched Eddie as a national and later international name.

Eddie moved to Los Angeles and recorded with all manner of the best jazz musicians. In 1969 he teamed up with pianist and singer Les McCann. They gave a performance at the Montreux Jazz Fes­tival, the recording of which cranked both their careers a notch higher.

Eddie once told me that he had asked the great tenor saxophonist Lester Young a question about embouchure. Pres told him, "I can only tell you about my mouth­piece in my mouth. I can't tell you about your mouthpiece in your mouth.”

Eddie used to improvise satires on the blues as we'd ride around Chicago in his car, laughter trailing in the night.” [John Reeves and Gene Lees, Jazz Lives: 100 Portraits in Jazz, p. 128]

More of Eddie’s fun music is on tap in the following video. The tune is Ambidextrous. Stay with this one as Eddie really turns it loose after Ralphe Armstrong’s fine bass solo.

And here is a video tribute to vocalist Madeline Eastman in tandem with the art work of the great Modigliani that features her performance of Eddie’s most famous composition – Freedom Jazz Dance.

Are we having fun, yet?

I certainly hope so as Eddie and others who perform his music obviously did. 

"Cruisin'" with The Eric Ineke JazzXpress

© -  Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“In 2006, Eric Ineke's JazzXpress came about. "While driving to a gig with David Liebman in Antwerp, Belgium, Dave said it was about time I started my own hard bop group. 'You should do this, and ask some good youngsters.' That night, Marius Beets was on bass and tenor saxophonist Sjoerd Dijkhuizen came by. Marius said: This is what we've been waiting for!' Sjoerd immediately asked if he could be part of it. Of course he could!"

For the piano chair Eric asked Rob van Bavel, with whom he had developed 'a great rhythmic rapport' after they both had been part of the Piet Noordijk Quartet and the high-energy Jarmo Hoogendijk/Ben van den Dungen Quintet. Young trumpet sensation Rik Mol - just 22 while I'm writing this - was recommended by his former teacher Jarmo Hoogendijk, who had to retire from stage because of a lip injury.

The band's name was made up by Eric's fellow musicians. "They decided that my name should be part of it, and they invented the word Xpress, with the capital X. It looks good on jazz club and festival posters."”

- Jeroen de Valk, Jazz writer and critic

It is always a treat when drummer Eric Ineke “pays a visit” to the editorial staff at JazzProfiles; no mean feat considering that he lives in Holland.

Such “visits” usually take the form of him sending me a copy of the latest CD by his group - “The Eric Ineke JazzXpress” -  and this one proved no exception as the group’s new CD Cruisin’ arrived via the mail.

Issued on the DayBreak subsidiary of Challenge Records, Cruisin’ [DBCHR 74588] is available through Amazon, Challenge Records via this link and on Eric’s website which you can locate here.

Both Challenge and Eric’s site are also excellence sources of information about other recordings by the JazzXpress.

If you’ve not had the opportunity to listen to their music, you are missing out on one of the finest straight-ahead groups on today’s Jazz scene.

Much like the late drummer Art Blakey of Jazz Messenger fame, Eric’s JazzXpress provides a Jazz bridge to help young players cross into the mainstream style of Jazz often referred to as hard bop.

Hard bop is an intricate style of modern Jazz. You have to pay your dues to play it well and it is very important to have someone coach you along to find its subtleties and nuances.

Because of his long years of experience in performing with many of the greatest exponents of hard bop school, Eric is the perfect guide for the JazzXpress’ relatively young players although bassist Marius Beets has been around long enough to merit consideration as “second-in-command” in a leadership role.

In addition to being the perfect bassist to complement Eric’s quietly insistent drumming [with Eric and Marius driving the beat, you best move along or get out the way] Marius showcases his considerable talents as a composer by writing three of the seven tunes on Cruisin’.  He also served as recording engineer for the date and handled all of the mixing, editing and mastering.

After a brief hiatus from the JazzXpress, the young trumpeter Rik Mol returns to the quintet and makes his presence felt with his sparkling sound, his wonderful front line work with tenor saxophonist Sjoerd Dijkhuizen and his inventive improvisations.

Rik brings fire and passion to the trumpet chair; close your eyes and you can hear shades of Red Rodney, Blue Mitchell and Carmel Jones. His horn can pop and be explosive or sound fine and mellow. His lines are fluid and full of his own ideas.

Eric also put Rik to work composing the opener for the session - Oak City - an uptempo burner that’s propelled by a rhythmic vamp laid down by the piano, bass and drums. The trumpet and tenor pick up the vamp and play it as a tag that pianist Rob van Bavel solos over to take the tune out.

Eric enlists van Bavel into the composition corps, too, and Rob responds with Just A Tune For You which is based on “rhythm changes.” According to Ted Gioia in The Jazz Standards:  “This is the granddaddy of jazz tunes. "I Got Rhythm" stands out as the perennial favorite of jam session participants, time-honored and battle-tested. Styles and tendencies may go in and out of favor, but this song never falls out of fashion. Indeed, so familiar is its structure and progression that musicians don't even need to mention the title in full—the bandleader just calls out "rhythm changes" and counts in a tempo. Usually the fastest one of the evening.” [p. 167]

Here, Just A Tune For You is played at a medium tempo and the famous song’s chords make it a comfortable vehicle for everyone to shine on including Eric who limits his say to some tasty four-bar-drum-solos. These days, it seems that long drum solos are the standard on Jazz recordings but, in my opinion, most Jazz fans don’t know how to listen to them and most Jazz drummers don’t know how to play them [construct them].

Eric has always led by example from the drum chair. Say what you have to say, but don’t overstay you’re welcome. There’s always a next solo and another after that. Keep the flow of the swing in place and remember the primary role of a drummer is to be “the heartbeat of Jazz.”

When Eric does take an extended solo, he takes it as his turn with a chorus as is the case on The End of An Affair. He stays so true to the tune’s theme that you can sing the melody while he plays his solo. No bombastic drumming here.

As the first call drummer for visiting and expatriate American Jazz musicians on the European Jazz scene, Eric had a long working relationship with tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin. Johnny had a technique second to none on the tenor saxophone [on any instrument for that matter] and he was a monster on up tempo tunes. But as if often the case with a lot of cats who can really bring it, Johnny could tear your heart out on a ballad. His beautiful phrasing on a slow tune almost made it sound as though he was singing lyrics through his horn.

On Cruisin’, tenor saxophonist Sjoerd Dijkhuizen picks up on Griffin’s expressive way with a ballad with his rendering of Johnny’s When We Were One. Sjoerd’s tone is so rich and “full of juice” that it really gets the attention it deserves in the context of this beautiful ballad. Rik Mol shows up on the tune’s bridge with muted trumpet and van Bavel comps the chords in a slow and deliberate manner, almost as though he were accompanying a vocalist.

And surprise, surprise; when Sjoerd begins his solo, Eric and Marius stay in time instead of doubling it. The full sonority of Sjoerd’s gorgeous tone on the instrument gets to ring through on this memorable performance. Does anyone play Jazz at this tempo anymore? Eric Ineke’s JazzXpress does and in so doing, it makes When We Were One one of the highlights of the recording.

But for all his lightness on ballads, Sjoerd’s also gets a big blustery sound on the big horn that has all the dynamism and drive that one comes to expect of the tenor sax in a hard bop combo. Sjoerd comes to play; no one is pushing this dude off the bandstand.

In many ways, the “secret ingredient” or “special sauce” of Eric Ineke JazzXpress is pianist Rob van Bavel. The piano chair plays a pivotal role in a Jazz quintet. It becomes third “voice” with the horns; either in unison or in harmony; either in bass clef or in treble. While it may not be distinctly heard as such, when the piano phrases the lines with the horns, it can provide a bottom or a top and thus make the music sound fuller.

The piano takes a turn at soloing, but while the others are soloing, it is the only instrument capable of feeding full chords in accompaniment.

The piano is also a percussive instrument and as such is expected to be an integral part of the rhythm section.

So many ways to be intrusive and yet so many ways to make a contribution to the music.

It is a mark of Rob van Bavel’s maturity as a musician and the quality of his musicianship that he is able to perform all these roles so well in the JazzXpress while making it sound so effortless.

From any standpoint, Cruisin’ by Eric Ineke’s JazzXpress is one of the recorded Jazz highlights of the year.

Eric wrote the following insert notes for the recording in which he gives his take on the music.

© -  Eric Ineke, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“Since I started the JazzXpress in 2006, eight years have gone by, and here we proudly present our sixth CD. We have managed to keep the same lineup almost the whole time, except for a short period when our stellar trumpeter Rik Mol was replaced by Rodolfo Fereira Neves, a fine young talented player in his own right.

When Rik came back in, the band got a new spirit and all the engines got retuned, as you can hear on his catchy "Oak City." The vibe is a Silverish one, which I love so much. Playing with the impeccable Ronnie Cuber recently got me back into Horace Silver's music all over again.

The eastern-flavored "Seven on the Rigter Scale" was written by Marius Beets, and inspired by some of the wonderful Dutch tenor player Simon Rigter's harmonic inventions. It opens with the composer's free bass solo, then launches into a camel groove evoking the days of Lawrence of Arabia. Sjoerd Dijkhuizen gets a fat sound on bass clarinet and Rik Mol plays a great solo on muted trumpet.

Marius's "The End of the Affair" is an uptempo burner based on the chords of a well-known standard, and inspired by Graham Greene's novel. (I didn't know the book, got curious about it, and recently found it in London in Hatchard's elegant bookstore.)

Cole Porter's "Night and Day" is a duet for pianist Rob van Bavel and me. I got the idea to do it from a recording we both made back in 1993 as members of the legendary Ben van den Dungen/Jarmo Hoogendijk Quintet. Rob's great rhythmic and harmonic approach is a springboard for my own playing here. In his solo he emulates Bill Evans's improvisation on the version he recorded with Stan Getz, which is a hell of a compliment to Bill Evans. We did it in one take at 10 a.m.

Johnny Griffin's haunting ballad "When We Were One" is a feature for our exquisite tenor man Sjoerd Dijkhuizen, who plays the melody with his heart on his sleeve. It's a fitting tribute to John Arnold Griffin III, who was a one-of-a-kind out of an era when jazz musicians were real characters, the kind we deeply miss these days.

Rob van Bavel's "Just A Tune for You" is his take on "I Got Rhythm" chords and fits the band like a glove; everyone gets to solo.

Marius Beets's "What Is This" is as hardbop as you can get, flying by on familiar changes. On the last tune, the remix "Cruisin'," the band sails into the 21st century. Marius did a great job on this one, and you can party on down with it as long as you want.

After 50 years in the jazz business, I feel still like a kid, and I'm very proud and grateful to be surrounded by such great musicians who keep kicking my ass.

Many thanks also to my longtime producer Fred Dubiez, who always gives me so much support.”

Eric lneke, May 2014”

The following video montage features the Eric Ineke JazzXpress performing Rik Mol’s “Oak City” the opening track on Cruisin’ [Daybreak DBCHR 74588]

Sonny and Jim and The Bridge

© -  Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“When I went to the bridge, I wanted to learn how to arrange and improve my musicianship …. That kind of self-initiative was very important to me.”

- Sonny Rollins as told to David Yaffe in 1995 and quoted in Gary Giddins, Visions of Jazz [p. 416]

“... no matter the context - hard bop or free jazz - and however much he adjusted his timbre, he never abandoned a few enduring principles: a style of improvisation that combines thematic development with melodic paraphrase; a large and ever-changing book of standard songs complemented by distinctive originals; and a dedication to stout rhythms verging on dance.

Gary Giddins, Visions of Jazz [p. 418]

“Like Sarah Vaughan, … [Sonny] established a loyal concert following apart from the record-buying public.”

Gary Giddins, Visions of Jazz [p. 419]

“Rollins …  went into seclusion for over two years, practicing, refining his craft, reading, thinking. His return was eagerly anticipated by jazz fans—especially given the superheated atmosphere of the jazz world circa 1960. New sounds were in the air. At no time in the history of jazz music had the mandate to progress been felt so pervasively by the leading players. At times it seemed as if progressivism were the only aesthetic measure that really counted, for many critics and some fans, at this juncture in the music's evolution.”

Ted Gioia, The History of Jazz, [p. 312]

When I listen to the music of tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, I sense a brooding melancholy but also a broad humor. He is a fearless improvisor.  But for a  player with so much assurance, he also exhibits so much doubt when away from the music; so much energy yet so much turmoil when involved with the music.

Throughout his distinguished career, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins has periodically taken time away from it.

When he first started doing this, the Jazz media would issue broadsides asking - “Where’s Sonny?”

Being the New York neighborhood cat that he was, it wouldn’t take long for a Sonny Sighting to occur usually involving some quixotic behavior on his part like practicing under the Williamsburg Bridge.

Back in the day, if you were not working the club scene and recording on a regular basis, especially if you were such a large talent like Sonny, people questioned your sanity.

These days with concert performances more the norm than club dates, when Sonny takes a few weeks or months off it’s not quite as big a deal.

However, as an example of Sonny’s tendencies to wander off the scene,  prior to the 1962 issuing of one of my favorite Rollins recordings, “the saxophonist disappeared for two years, before returning to the studio with a new contract from RCA. The Bridge [LP 2527; CD 0902 668518-2] started him off. [Guitarist Jim] Hall is an unexpectedly fine partner throughout, moving between rhythm and front line duties with great aplomb and actually finding ways to communicate with the most lofty of soloists. It is an often compelling record as a result.” [Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6th Ed. p. 1266]  

“Unexpectedly” is a nice way to characterize the pairing of Sonny Rollins with guitarist Jim Hall, but the result is an excellent example of the ‘sound of surprise” a phrase created by the late, writer Whitney Balliett to describe one of the remarkable qualities of Jazz.

[I’ve yet to find an observation in the Jazz literature linking the title of Sonny’s album - The Bridge - with his two year hiatus from the music prior to its recording, some of which found him practicing under the Williamsburg Bridge [!]. Too obvious, perhaps?

Gary Giddins offers these views of The Bridge and the pairing of Sonny and Jim on The Bridge in these excerpts from his always insightful Visions of Jazz:

“He exhibited a more rugged, direct timbre when he returned, with a lucrative RCA contract and The Bridge. (In the '50s, he had recorded exclusively for small independent labels, including Prestige, Contemporary, Blue Note, MGM, and Riverside.) Rollins sloughed off comparisons to his earlier work and upset critical preconceptions by constantly tinkering with his sound, while sampling in his uniquely jocular (many said sardonic) way the avant-garde and the new Latin wave. Some people were offended by his humor, some by his implacable authority. Others presumed a rivalry between Rollins and Coltrane that must have been galling to both men. Of the six controversial albums that emerged from his association with RCA, The Bridge was initially the most widely admired, probably because it was the most conventional—the most like his '50s LPs. Although the album presents his quartet, with Jim Hall on guitar, Rollins's solos are usually backed by bass and drums, so there is a connection to the trio albums. Yet the jazz world had changed in his absence: the new music surfaced and Rollins was intrigued.” [p. 416]

And writing in his seminal The History of Jazz, Ted Gioia put The Bridge in the following context:

“Rollins …  went into seclusion for over two years, practicing, refining his craft, reading, thinking. His return was eagerly anticipated by jazz fans—especially given the superheated atmosphere of the jazz world circa 1960. New sounds were in the air. At no time in the history of jazz music had the mandate to progress been felt so pervasively by the leading players. At times it seemed as if progressivism were the only aesthetic measure that really counted, for many critics and some fans, at this juncture in the music's evolution. Rollins felt these pressures yet he ultimately reacted with ambivalence. When he returned, Rollins may have been a changed man — during his sabbatical he had become a Rosicrucian, studied philosophy, exercised, practiced — but his music was strikingly unchanged, disappointing those who felt that Rollins, like Coltrane and Coleman, would create a totally different sound. His comeback album, The Bridge, was a solid effort, but found Rollins again playing jazz standards with a fairly traditional combo. The main change here was the addition of guitarist Jim Hall, a subtle accompanist and inspired soloist, but hardly the "new thing" in jazz.

Post-1960, Rollins's career tended to display tentative forays into the latest trend, followed inevitably by a return to more familiar ground….

Rollins's various retirements, reclusions, and reconsiderations could stand as symbolic of the whole era. Jazz was in a period of transition, of fragmentation into different schools, of reassessment. The music's modernist tradition, which Rollins epitomized, could no longer simply be taken for granted. Its assumptions—about harmony, melody, rhythm, song structure, instrumentation, and perhaps even more about the social role of jazz music — were constantly being questioned and increasingly found wanting by the more revolutionary musicians of the younger generation. Rollins's self-doubts were in many ways the same anxieties felt by his whole generation as it struggled to clear a path through this seeming pandemonium. Some looked for even more, for a transfiguring movement, the next new thing, that would draw these fragments back together into a new coherence. Others, less sanguine, felt that there would be no more towering figures, titans of the caliber of Armstrong, Ellington, Goodman, or Parker, who could define a whole age, give impetus to an entire generation. Instead jazz, it seemed, was condemned to — or was it blessed by? — a pluralism, in which "next new things" would come and go with amazing alacrity.” [pp. 312-313]