[SACD-R][OF] Sonny Rollins - The Bridge - 1962/2013 (Hard Bop)

How badly did Sonny Rollins want to refine his playing? The saxophonist shocked the world in 1959 & took a break, returning in 1962 with this splendiferous set, named after the Williamsburg Bridge, where he practiced by himself. He’s paired here with guitarist Jim Hall, whose communicative lines, along with Rollins’ esteemed solos & melancholy patterns, gives The Bridge lofty status. The quartet tackles both originals & standards such as Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child” & Cole Porter’s “You Do Something to Me,” turning up aces every time.

Mastered from the original master tapes, ORG Music’s hybrid SACD presents this Bluebird/RCA classic in the finest sound it’s ever known. Everything from each of Rollins’ dip-&-dive patterns to the patter of Ben Riley’s drums is heard with extreme detail & range. If you love the realism, clarity, & you-are-there detail of classic jazz, you don’t want to miss this superb reissue.

SA-CD.net review by undertone June 30, 2013:
This landmark session in Sonny Rollins’ catalog, which represented a return to the recording studio after a long period of self-imposed seclusion, reflection & practice, was transferred from the original stereo master tape by Bernie Grundman as part of ORG’s detour into SACD production. The label is primarily focused on issuing limited edition deluxe 45 rpm vinyl sets & just recently began releasing a separate set of titles on SACD. “The Bridge” was previously reissued in 2003 in RCA’s Bluebird First Edition series, remixed & remastered by Mark Wilder. Comparing the 2 reissues reveals the virtues & drawbacks of both approaches.

The ORG SACD, like many of Mobile Fidelity’s recent jazz SACDs, pulls the listener into the studio space – RCA’s Studio B. If the drum sound never quite equals the tonal depth of Rudy Van Gelder’s best recordings, it is striking to hear just how much subtlety could be captured within the dynamic limitations of analogue tape. In the opening of the gorgeous ballad “Where Are You?” Ben Riley’s brushwork is very recessed – he’s distinctly located behind bassist Bob Cranshaw, dead center in the mix – yet the percussive texture never completely disappears in the background. In Wilder’s remix, the drums are pushed forward & spread from center partly into the right channel. Not a wrong aesthetic decision, but not the same as the original mix.

An unprocessed high resolution transfer is going to reveal artifacts of age in the source tape. Some of the tracks on “The Bridge” sound clean & undistorted across the range of frequencies from extended lows in Bob Cranshaw’s upright bass to the sheen of the cymbals. The ballads especially display marvelous sound quality. Other tracks reveal a slight graininess in the saxophone & what could be signal over-saturation (over & above intentional amp distortion), on Jim Hall’s electric guitar. These details are less apparent in Wilder’s remix, which has been sweetened with EQ & digital reverb. Wilder’s interventions result in a more consistent but less authentic sounding product. In the drum break starting at 4:44 on the title track, Ben Riley’s hard snare snaps & tom-tom rolls sound dry, distinct & vivid on the SACD, smoothed-out & somewhat veiled in reverb on the CD.

By February 1962, when Rollins returned to active recording & performing, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy & Ornette Coleman had been unsettling the jazz scene with sheets of sound, micro tonality, & free-jazz ensemble playing. Sonny’s approach seems less forward-looking by comparison, but the music on “The Bridge” reflects a range of styles that interested him at the time, from ballads to modernistic excursions. He was confident that his playing had gone to a new level. ORG’s SACD demonstrates the expanded emotional & technical range of his interpretative art.