His sabbatical lasted three years.
During those three years he worked on his craft. He would call his buddy and fellow tenor legend John Coltrane to exchange ideas over the phone. They would literally play their newest jazz ideas into the phone receiver and discuss what they heard.
Living in a cramped Manhattan flat with no place to practice, Rollins would go to the Williamsburg Bridge and practice and play for twelve to fifteen hours a day. I can only imagine the passersby thinking he was just some weird street performer who didn't ask for money, when in actuality they were hearing one of the legends of 1950's hard bop jazz honing his craft.
Sonny Rollins re-emerged in 1962 ready to record again. The result was this album, The Bridge. The next several years proved that Rollins not only still had it but had remarkably found new ground to explore.
Three years man. We always got things to work on.
