Home » Jazz Articles » Sonny Simmons
Jazz Articles about Sonny Simmons
Sonny Simmons: Staying on the Watch
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons embraces music with his whole body, soul, mind and spirit; that much is clear from Staying on the Watch, recorded in August 1966 and reissued by ESP-Disk in 2010. Not everything that he did got its due: when Simmons came on the scene, he remained too close to Charlie Parker. When he discovered his own brooding voice with that characteristic, sharp intonation that made his alto sound almost like a shenai (Indian flute), he floated on ...
Continue ReadingSonny Simmons: Last Man Standing; Introducing Black Jack Pleasanton & Fourth Dimension
by Jeff Stockton
Sonny Simmons Last Man Standing Jazzaway 2008 Sonny Simmons Introducing Black Jack Pleasanton Hello World 2008 Sonny Simmons Fourth Dimension Hello World 2008
Sonny Simmons will turn 75 this year and the range of musical knowledge and influence heard in his playing suggest ...
Continue ReadingSonny Simmons: Last Man Standing
by Nic Jones
This is the latest in a series of albums under saxophonist Sonny Simmons' name put out by the Norwegian Jazzaway label; a further instalment in the documentation of an abundantly creative artist, but one who only relatively recently has started to receive the kind of exposure he deserves.
The setting here is a straight-ahead one and Simmons thrives in it. In the company of a rhythm section that does everything a listener might ask of it, and a whole lot ...
Continue ReadingSonny Simmons: Live at the Cheshire Cat
by Jeff Stockton
In 1980, legendary altoist Sonny Simmons was at his lowest point. Describing himself as “shipwrecked when the gigs dried up and the money ran out, Simmons followed his wife and frequent collaborator, trumpeter Barbara Donald, from San Francisco to Olympia, Washington, with the hope that the change of scene would revitalize their tenuous marriage and put their family on firmer ground. He lasted six weeks up there and disc one of these newly released concerts captures Simmons a world away ...
Continue ReadingThe Complete ESP-Disk Recordings; The Traveller
by Jeff Stockton
Sonny Simmons The Complete ESP-Disk Recordings ESP-Disk 2005
Clifford Allen's informative and revealing interview with Sonny Simmons, included with ESP's two-disc reissue of Simmons' first efforts as a leader (Staying on the Watch and Music From the Spheres) clears up much of what happened to the master alto saxophonist between the time these sessions were cut in 1966 and his re-emergence in the '90s. Simmons' inability to conform to the demands of ...
Continue ReadingSonny Simmons: The Traveller
by Rex Butters
Even at 72, the great Sonny Simmons still comes up with the unexpected. On The Traveller, the veteran musician nestles into beautiful compositions and arrangements by Vidar Johansen with a group augmented by an elite string quartet from the Oslo Philharmonic. Johansen surrounds Simmons in strong, open charts that create taut frameworks for improvisational weaving. The melodically driven program spotlights Simmons' gift for spontaneous lyricism.
The string quartet introduces itself on “Humphrey with stark figures melting in the fire of ...
Continue ReadingSonny Simmons: The Traveller
by Mark Corroto
Every time a new Sonny Simmons record is released, reviewers encourage listeners to wake up to this shadowy figure. Simmons has always been a guy hovering behind the glory. In the '60s he seemed a footnote to Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy, and listeners bought Ayler on ESP before Simmons. His rediscovery in the late '80s was again a back page story to Ornette Coleman's return.
Well, Simmons is back again.
The Swedish label Jazzaway has ...
Continue Reading
