Jazz Articles about Sonny Fortune

Sonny Fortune: Trilogy Collection

by Florence Wetzel
December 16, 2006

Sonny Fortune Trilogy Collection Sound Reason 2006

Jazz is blessed by the music of alto saxophonist and flutist Sonny Fortune, a living master who always plays directly from the heart. In addition to his work with Miles Davis, Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones, Nat Adderley, and Mongo Santamaria, over the years Fortune has led many dates of his own. He considers his three mid-90s Blue Note releases to be among his most significant recorded work ...

Sonny Fortune: In Pursuit Of Music

by Russ Musto
September 19, 2006

Sonny Fortune is one of the most exciting saxophonists in jazz today, with a searing sound that is all his own. Fortune served as a sideman with a variety of leaders, including Elvin Jones, Mongo Santamaria, Buddy Rich, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis and Nat Adderley, but it as a leader that he has truly made his mark in music. He currently leads a quartet, is co-leader with Gary Bartz and Vincent Herring of the cooperative group The Three Altos, and ...

Sonny Fortune and Rashied Ali: An Evening of Thanksgiving

by Erik R. Quick
November 24, 2005

Sonny Fortune and Rashied Ali An Die Musik Baltimore, MD November 19, 2005

The small sign on the column of the entrance announced the performance of “Sonny Fortune and Rashied Ali; SOLD OUT . Some anxious audience members gathered at the bottom of the old stone stairs to the raised entrance, smoking and chattering about musical memories in the brisk air from the harbor. Other people congregated in the music store in the ...

Sonny Fortune: Continuum

by Andrey Henkin
October 5, 2004

For those that only know Sonny Fortune through his work with the Three Altos or his duo with Rashied Ali, his new self-released album Continuum will present a very different musician. The aforementioned groups feature Fortune solely on alto and as a firebreather playing on standards. Not that there is anything wrong with that (a set with Ali last month featured a 40-minute “The Song is You" that rattled the Sweet Rhythm silverware) but Fortune has other facets, all on ...

Sonny Fortune Quartet at Sweet Rhythm

by Chris Thompson
April 2, 2004

Sonny Fortune Quartet Sweet Rhythm, New York City March 27, 2004

‘Round about midnight on March 25, 2004, WKCR in New York City, the radio station of Columbia University, concluded a continuous two-week program on John Coltrane. Yes, that’s right -- John Coltrane Radio 24/7 for two weeks straight! “All Coltrane. All the time." The program finale was a live 1961 recording of the “classic” John Coltrane Quartet performing “My Favorite Things”. It’s a performance gushing ...

Fortune / Harper / Cowell / Workman / Hart: Great Friends

by Frank Rubolino
May 1, 2003

Paris in the mid-1980s was the scene for this session of power players, but the music remains as fresh and vital today as it was when drummer Billy Hart formed the band. Almost a decade earlier, the drummer had assembled a star-studded group for Enchance (Horizon, 1977) and a threesome with Walter Bishop, Jr. called The Trio (Progressive, 1978). Upon his re-emergence as a leader, Hart claimed he was the only sideman, but his work belies that statement. For this ...

Fortune/Harper/Cowell/Workman/Hart: Great Friends

by Terrell Kent Holmes
April 6, 2003

Great Friends, originally released in France in 1986, is a reissue of the only studio recording made by a star-studded quintet that performed briefly in the ‘80s: Sonny Fortune (alto sax), Billy Harper (tenor sax), Stanley Cowell (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), and session leader Billy Hart (drums). The album was recorded right after a tour, while the collective groove was still strong, and the result is exemplary. “Cal Massey," with Cowell's deft keyboard dancing, leads off the ...