Sonny's Bridge

Jazz Legend Sonny Rollins
Finds His Groove

Charlesbridge
(pub. 5.21.2019) 
 40 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor:  Barry Wittenstein
and illustrator:  Keith Mallett

 
C haracter: Sonny Rollins

O verview: 

     "Sonny Rollins started playing the sax as a kid in Harlem in New York City. He rocketed to the top of the jazz world. Imagine the pressure.
     So he stopped playing professionally. Took a step  back. Turns out he wasn't sure he was worthy of all that fame.
     Practicing at home disturbed  his neighbors. So you know what he did? He went up on the Williamsburg Bridge. He and Henrietta - his saxophone - played there every day, rain or shine. For more than two years!
     Sonny thought about who he was and what he wanted. Took some of the pressure off. Then he decided he was ready to go back to the recording studio.
     The results? Sonny made one of his best-selling albums, The Bridge. Turned out that Sonny's time on the bridge to think things through solidified Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins's place in jazz history."

T antalizing taste: 
      
      "Misty night.
      Summer night.
      East River New York City night.
      You hear that? 
           Hear what? 
      That. THAT!
           Somebody's playing the saxophone. So what?
      So that's Sonny Rollins, that's what."

And something more: In his Author's Note in SONNY'S BRIDGE, Barry Wittenstein writes: "I have a confession to make. For me, jazz was an  acquired taste ... I even ventured into the music business as a nonperforming songwriter. My only cut that ever got airplay was a pop/jazz song by a singer signed to GRP Records, a jazz label. So, maybe jazz resonated with me more than I'd suspected.
     Now, after a lifetime, the image of Sonny Rollins playing sax on a New York City bridge is one that still tugs at my heart."