Jazz Articles about Sonny Simmons

Sonny Simmons: Manhattan Ego

by Mark Corroto
August 1, 2000

It is easy to forget the humanity of jazz as we the listener, collector, critic examine the music of creativity. With our digital age, re-mastering and access to most of the first hundred years of jazz, we move effortlessly backwards and forwards through time tasting Jelly Roll, James Carter, and George Gershwin. Discovery of Armstrong’s Hot Fives is as easy as a trip to the record store or through the internet.

Besides the obvious ‘big names’ – Miles, Coltrane, Gillespie, ...

Sonny Simmons: American Jungle

by Douglas Payne
July 1, 1997

Legendary firebrand Sonny Simmons was one of the great players in the avant-garde, free-bop movement of the early 1960s. Although recorded infrequently, he always made passionate statements on alto that were fierce and relentless. Every note he blew demanded to be heard. He's spent the last 30 years in San Francisco largely unrecorded. But now in his sixth decade, he's survived and, better yet, lost none of the passion or anger that made all his music so compelling. ...