Jazz Articles about Sonny Fortune

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Buster Williams: Pinnacle

by C. Andrew Hovan
May 25, 2026

As if producer and archival sleuth Zev Feldman weren’t already busy enough unearthing lost jazz treasures, he has recently launched a new imprint, Time Traveler. A devoted collector in his own right, Feldman has turned his attention—at least initially—to the storied catalog of Muse Records. Founded in 1972 by Joe Fields, with significant contributions from Don Schlitten, Muse weathered the shifting tides of the industry for a quarter century. While portions of the catalog have resurfaced on CD over the ...

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Buster Williams: Pinnacle

by Andrew Schinder
May 7, 2026

Bass legend Buster Williams has built a long, prolific career traversing the innerwebs of diverse jazz styles and sub-genres, developing into a beloved sideman and one of the finest rhythmists of jazz's modern period. Williams' bass can elevate any material, and he has contributed to some of the most treasured recordings in the jazz canon, in particular supporting Kenny Barron, Woody Shaw and, of course, Herbie Hancock. But Williams has an exceptional discography of his own, if a bit overshadowed by ...

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Swingin' In The Rain: Portland Jazz Festival 2016

by Chuck Koton
April 11, 2016

Sonny Fortune and Azar Lawrence Jimmy Mak'sPDX Jazz FestivalPortland, OR February 18-19, 2016 Any American burg that aspires to “great city" status has got to have a solid jazz scene. Sorry, but hipster hat shops, artisanal juiceries, and $6 coffee from beans grown on sustainable farms in Africa and Latin America just wont do. Portland, the Rose City of the rugged Northwest, is one of those aspirational cities. And after a ...

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Sonny Fortune at Lancaster Avenue Jazz Festival, Philadelphia

by Victor L. Schermer
July 23, 2015

Sonny Fortune Quartet Ninth Annual Lancaster Avenue Jazz Festival Philadelphia, PA July 18, 2015 It isn't often that you're going to hear a jazz legend like saxophonist Sonny Fortune at an inner city vest pocket park festival featuring mostly young lions and R&B groups, but in this case, at Saunders Park Green in Philadelphia's Powelton Village, Fortune was a local boy come home, and it was a sentimental thrill to see and hear this ...

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Sonny Fortune: Last Night At Sweet Rhythm

by Chuck Koton
May 28, 2010

Jellyfish plumes of toxic smoke may no longer hover in the air, but clinking glasses, persistent waiters and the intermittent roaring of drink mixers still conspire to diminish a jazz lover's listening pleasure at a live nightclub performance. Yet, somehow, spontaneous improvisation--the lifeblood of jazz--and the intimate interactions among the musicians and the audience, combine in clubs around the world to consistently conjure sonic magic on the bandstand.

Reed and flute master Sonny Fortune's incendiary blowin' style is ...

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Sonny Fortune: Last Night at Sweet Rhythm

by Terrell Kent Holmes
January 13, 2010

A few months ago, in 2009, reedman Sonny Fortune brought his quartet into the late Greenwich Village club to cut his first live recording as a leader. The performance captured on Last Night at Sweet Rhythm shows, as Fortune moves into his seventies, that his playing is as innovative, daring and fiery as ever. The set list can be viewed as a kind of retrospective, originals culled from various periods in Fortune's career. He goes for the ...

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Sonny Fortune: Thank God For That Day Job

by Chuck Koton
July 2, 2008

With an auspicious name like Sonny Fortune, could there be any doubt that this man would find success and fulfillment down whatever path he chose to follow in life. Fortune-ately for jazz lovers, he focused his talent and energy on the saxophone.

Fortune's destiny began at the beguine-ing; he was born at the right time, May 19, 1939, and at the right place, Philadelphia. While the City of Brotherly Love has been considered a second-tier jazz ...