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Sonny Sitt, Kris Davis, Rufus Reid
by David Brown
This week, a series of mini-sets featuring Sonny Sitt, Tommy Flanagan, Esperanza Spalding, Harold Land, Kris Davis and Rufus Reid. Welcome friends and neighbors to The Jazz Continuum. Old, new, in, out... wherever the music takes us. Each week, we will explore the elements of jazz from a historical perspective.Playlist Thelonious Monk “Esistrophy (Theme)" from Live at the It Club-Complete (Columbia) 01:30 Roberto Magris,Sam Reed “Jungle Strut" from Ready for Reed (JMood) 08:43 Sonny Stitt “Tune-Up" from Tune-Up! ...
Continue ReadingSonny Stitt, Eugene Chadbourne and More
by Jerome Wilson
This episode covers a broad range of jazz from Sonny Stitt in full live cry to Eugene Chadbourne playing Eric Dolphy. In between those poles are Don Byron, Dizzy Gillespie, Sara Caswell, and a lot more. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Coleman Hawkins “I'm Beginning to See the Light" from Swingville Original Jazz Classics Sampler (Swingville) 00:58 Dizzy ...
Continue ReadingSonny Stitt: Boppin’ in Baltimore Live at the Left Bank
by Alberto Bazzurro
L'11 novembre 1973 alla Famous Ballroom di Baltimora il quartetto di Sonny Stitt, fresco reduce dai fasti dei Giants of Jazz (Gillespie, Monk, Winding, Blakey, McKibbon) e certamente in stato di grazia (non aveva del resto ancora cinquant'anni pur essendo già un veterano, per qualcuno addirittura un sorpassato), tenne un concerto ricco di fuoco e invenzioni a getto continuo che oggi, grazie a Jazz Detective, trova posto in un doppio album (CD o LP) comprensivo di ampio libretto di accompagnamento ...
Continue ReadingThe Early Years of Sonny Stitt in Saginaw, Michigan
by Dustin Mallory
As one of most recorded saxophonists of his generation, Sonny Stitt made more than 100 albums under his own name. He also performed as a sideman with the likes of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey. Despite the breadth of recorded work he left behind, Sonny Stitt's upbringing in Saginaw, Michigan is less well-documented. The basic facts of his birth have been widely circulated: Edward “Sonny" Stitt was born Edward Boatner Jr., the son of a Massachusetts concert singer/composer ...
Continue ReadingSonny Stitt: Don't Call Me Bird!
by Samuel Chell
Absolute Distribution, a Spanish consortium of labels, has done it again, following up last year's welcome single-disc reissue (at least outside the U.S.) of Stitt's 1970s Cobblestone sessions, Tune-Up! + Constellation, with two 1959 West Coast dates for Verve featuring Stitt on alto with a crack California rhythm section. Even though a first-time reissue, the disc is scarce domestically, but the musical content and production values make it well worth the search. A listener familiar with Stitt's tenor duel with ...
Continue ReadingThe Prodigious and Prolific Sonny Stitt: 16 New Releases for 2007 (and still counting!)
by Samuel Chell
“You can't do no more than has already been done. Remember a man named Art Tatum; now, who can play any more than that? ...You ain't supposed to play over people's heads. You're trying to give a message to people, and make it as simple as possible for the average man." The quote is by a paradoxical reactionary who, like Tatum, could improvise on a tune and make you think you'd heard it. Only after 20-30 more listenings ...
Continue ReadingSonny Stitt: Quadromania/One O'Clock Jump
by Samuel Chell
Sonny Stitt Quadromania: One O'Clock Jump Membran Records 2006
Regarded by many musicians as the prototypal, or “most perfect," saxophonist, Sonny Stitt recorded some 150 sessions under his own name. These four discs in German company Membran's Quadromania series will, with the possible exception of some recorded tenor battles 1950-52 under Gene Ammons' name, take care of most listeners' needs from late 1946 to early 1954. There are close to four hours of music ...
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