Was Practicing on the Bridge Worth It?

Sonny Rollins’s two years spent trying to re-invent himself may have been overkill

Many people who have never heard a single album by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins know he spent two years on New York’s Williamsburg Bridge practicing. It’s one of jazz’s most romantic stories—a frustrated artist taking a commercial break to be out in the open getting to know himself better and advance his art form. But were those two years a fruitful use of Sonny’s time? [Photo above of the Williamsburg Bridge walkway by Alexandra Charian]