The Music of Sonny Rollins Available NowThis shootout was conducted about ten years ago. We mistakenly thought the reissues with this cover you see to the left actually sounded better than the original pressings, but we were wrong and we don’t mind admitting it.
As of 2024, it’s clear to us that the early pressings have the potential for the best sound, but that the reissues can still sound very good, certainly quite a bit better than any Heavy Vinyl reissue is likely to.
Want to find your own top quality copy?
Consider taking our moderately helpful advice concerning the pressings that tend to win our shootouts.
In our experience, this record sounds best this way:
Our Old Review
We found STUNNING sound for Sonny Rollins’ classic LP The Bridge this week, and as you might have guessed from the image above, it wasn’t on an original pressing! It’s beyond tough to find copies of this album on any label these days, but we had a big stack of pressings from different eras and auditioned them in a big shootout. We’ve paired up our best side one with our best side two to create this killer White Hot Stamper 2-pack.
The originals we had on hand didn’t come close to the sound we heard on the A+++ sides of this 2-pack. The later pressings are a mixed bag, but the killer sides we’re offering here completely blew our minds. It’s been years since we heard this album sound anything like this. Let me tell you, it was a thrill to hear The Bridge with such big, natural sound.
Both of the White Hot sides boast superb, Demo Quality sound: super clean and clear; amazing size; serious immediacy; excellent clarity and transparency; real texture to the instruments; tons of energy; lots of depth to the soundfield and so forth. The sax sounds just right, played loud enough it’s almost as if you’re hearing the real instrument and not just a record.
The flipsides of the White Hot sides in this 2-pack were actually pretty good, each earning about an A+ grade. We probably could make more money selling the two copies separately, but we think this music is best enjoyed as a complete album. We imagine someone’s going to be thrilled to do that with White Hot Stamper A+++ sound throughout.
Sonny Rollins on The Bridge
In the 50s and 60s, Lucille and I had a small apartment on Grand Street on the Lower East Side of New York. It was a nice time. I had a lot of friends there and I was welcomed by the neighborhood people. Like most of New York, the Lower East Side has undergone gentrification but back then, it was a much more ethnic place.
I started practicing in the house because I had to practice, but I felt guilty because I’m a sensitive person and I know that people need quiet in their apartments.
I was walking on Delancey Street one day, not far from where I lived on Grand Street and I just happened to look up and see these steps that I decided to check out. And there, of course, was the bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge. It was this nice big expanse going over the East River. There was nobody up there. So I started walking across the bridge and said, “Wow. This is what I have been looking for. This is a private place. I can blow my horn as loud as I want.”
Because the boats are coming under, and the subway is coming across, and cars, and I knew it was perfect, just serendipity. Then, I began getting my horn and going up there regularly. I would be up there 15 or 16 hours at a time spring, summer, fall, and winter.