Inspired by saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ and guitarist Jim Hall’s legendary collaboration immortalised by their record ‘The Bridge’, the new Scandinavian-British Bridge Quartet was set up by guitarist James Girling after he moved to Norway. Bringing together compatriot saxophonist Dave Edge and the formidable young rhythm section of Danish drummer Emil Norman and Norwegian double bassist Andreas Svabø, this all-Oslo-based quartet establishes a conduit between British and Scandinavian musicians for expressing their shared love of the American modern jazz tradition against a contemporary northern European backdrop. 

Bridge Quartet’s debut project pays tribute to Rollins’ iconic album ‘The Bridge’, played in its entirety, alongside gems from his following album ‘What’s New’: all recorded within a few months in early 1962 by Rollins’ same band of Hall, Bob Cranshaw (bass) and Ben Riley (drums). 

This project is touring Norway and the UK in 2025 (the year that saxophone colossus Rollins turns 95). 

Dave Edge (UK) // tenor saxophone
James Girling (UK) // guitar
Andreas Svabø (NO) // bass
Emil Norman (DK) // drums