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Sonny Stitt: The Complete Roost Sonny Stitt Studio Recordings
by C. Andrew Hovan
Easily one of the most recorded saxophonists in the annals of modern jazz history, saxophonist Sonny Stitt’s catalog is filled with almost equal portions of the inspired and the routine. At his best, he was a melody man who combined a love of Johnny Hodges’ rich sonorities with a bop-inflected tartness akin to that of Charlie Parker. His technical mastery often times though made it very easy for Stitt to coast on autopilot, giving some of his lesser records a ...
Continue ReadingSonny Stitt & Don Patterson: Brothers 4
by David Rickert
How much organ jazz does one really need? This album certainly raises the question. Ultimately the organ is best suited for gospel and blues-tinged workouts as Jimmy Smith proved. Ventures into much varied material, such as bossa novas and ballads, can be sketchy. Larry Young was one of the few who successfully expanded the range the instrument could occupy. This points to one of the faults of this CD; the quartet wanders into territories that seem ill fitting for the ...
Continue ReadingSonny Stitt: Just the Way It Was: "Live" at the Left Bank
by Matthew S. Robinson
To inaugurate his latest musical milestone, the starting of Label M, one of Jazz’s most underrated production legends, Joel Dorn, has taken a set of his musical counterpart, the electrifying saxophonist Sonny Stitt, from the vaults of the Left Bank Jazz Society and puts it back on vinyl (er... plastic) to sustain the Society’s mission of keeping a jazzy light in the window for new and future generations. From a sobbing rendition of “Cry Me a River" which is recognizable ...
Continue Readingsonny stitt and eddie lockjaw davis: tenor battle at birdland
by Daniel Robt Patten
this great jam session was recorded in 1954. sonny stitt joined eddie"lockjaw"davis' organ trio for an afternoon at the famous birdland club. sonny and jaws took their turn romping through standards like don't blame me, i can't get started and all the things you are. both tenormen were in the prime of their great careers at this stage and the music is wonderful. doc bagby supplies the organ with charlie rice the drums. anyone seeking a great mainstream jazz jam ...
Continue ReadingSonny Stitt: "Live" At The Left Bank
by Jim Santella
The electric saxophone was a good idea that just didn’t work out. Sonny Stitt is able to play “alto,” “tenor” or a combination of the two synchronized in perfect harmony. The baritone sax effect is added to “The Shadow of Your Smile” and “Blues Up and Down.” His skills on the saxophone aren’t in the least diminished by this innovation. Stitt could play bebop with the dexterity and understanding that only a few could manage. The instrument’s sound, of course, ...
Continue ReadingSonny Stitt: Just The Way It Was - "Live" At The Left Bank
by AAJ Staff
Sonny Stitt is the other diamond in the deuce that Label M is releasing to introduce its brave new label. Another tenor sax powerhouse, Stan Getz, also is on the front line of releases. Each with his own distinctive sound, Stitt and Getz both knew how to command the attention of an audience in his own way. Getz did it through pleas and songs and unexpected accents and a comforting tone. Stitt did it through a groove and straightforward aggressive ...
Continue ReadingSonny Stitt: Low Flame
by Derek Taylor
Despite its periodic popularity and its tenable ties to today’s acid jazz scene 60s soul jazz has a checkered history when it comes to critical acceptance. Denigrated as simplistic and repetitive the music was often judged on unequal footing with more ‘scholarly’ schools of jazz such as be-bop and cool. The Hammond B-3 players who were among its primary purveyors were rarely, if ever, about stolid erudition. Part of the music’s infectious charm (which goes part and parcel with many ...
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