Home » Jazz Musicians » Sonny Simmons

Sonny Simmons

Sonny Simmons made a number of striking albums in the 60's. Born in 1933, he was already a well-travelled Parkerian and a signaled innovator on the West Coast when he first came to national attention in 1963 with his debut recording "The Cry!" (with the Prince Lasha Quintet, on Contemporary), live appearances in NYC with Sonny Rollins, and sessions with Eric Dolphy (for whom he wrote the standard, "Music Matador") and Coltrane's rhythm section ("Illumination!", on Impulse).

Though not a die-hard avant-gardist (like Ornette Coleman and Jimmy Lyons, other alto sax luminaries from the same generation, he sticks in his own provocative way to the tradition), he was then a leading figure of the Free Jazz scene in NYC with his wife Barbara Donald, cutting legendary records for ESP in 1966, "Staying On The Watch" and "Music From The Spheres". Back in California, he made an acclaimed appearance at the Jazz Symposyum in Berkeley (1969). He became an underground hero with the likes of Bert Wilson, James Zitro, Smiley Winters and producer James Bronson Jr. The period also provided landmark records for Arhoolie ("Manhattan Egos") and Contemporary ("Firebirds", "Rumasuma", "Burning Spirits"), which met international response.

Then - nothing. Sonny Simmons suffered a spectacular eclipse during the 70's and the 80's. With the West Coast no longer providing work, family and personal problems, his career collapsed.

He ended up in the streets. Playing kept him alive, and he managed to maintain working groups throughout most of this "lost periode", producing hours of incredible music (which are still to be released : check out the rare documented traces of this activity, "Backwoods Suite", "Global Jungle" and the solo tour-de-force, "Jewels", to make sure his musical powers remained untouched).

Accordingly, his come-back had to be spectacular, too. He began to build a local reputation again. Word-of-mouth, helping souls and hard work made the rest : by the time he went to Europe (1994), he had an album on Warner, "Ancient Ritual". Actually, the title he had first choosen says it all : Reincarnation. He made a strong impression in festivals (Montreal, Moers, Willisau, Helsinki...), on record ("American Jungle", Warner, "Judgement Day", CIMP), appeared at the Irridium, at the Knitting Factory.

But somehow, he felt he had to bring forth something different. After a period of lesser activity (while living in France, he kept on touring, notably with Oliver Lake and Sunny Murray, but didn't record), he re-emerged in 2000 with richer, brilliant concepts.

The Cry!

by Richard J Salvucci
August 29, 2024

This recording is, at first glance, a bit of an unusual choice by Craft Recording for its Contemporary Records Acoustic Sound Series audiophile vinyl series. Neither Prince Lasha (pronounced Lashay) nor Sonny Simmons make an appearance in Bill Kirchner's The Oxford Companion to Jazz (Oxford University Press, 2000). An earlier reviewer for AAJ allowed as how both players were talented, but probably understood no more about Ornette Coleman's theory of “harmolodics" than the average listener did. Skepticism or, indeed, lack ...

Album Review

Eric Dolphy: At Five Spot to Iron Man Revisited

Read "At Five Spot to Iron Man Revisited" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
April 22, 2024

Riunire in un unico CD di quasi ottanta minuti due capolavori cosa determina? Un capolavoro al quadrato, ovviamente, ed è quanto avviene in questo album semplicemente maestoso, i cui primi tre brani riprendono il live inciso al Five Spot il 16 luglio 1961 dal quintetto da favola riunito per l'occasione da Eric Dolphy, all'epoca trentatreenne, il cui nome iniziava finalmente a circolare con una certa insistenza nel mondo del jazz anche al di là dei colleghi che già ne conoscevano ...

Radio & Podcasts

Dave Holland Trio, Sonny Simmons, Astral Spirits & El Negocito Releases

by Maurice Hogue
June 2, 2021

There's something in this episode for just about everybody. You'll hear samples from the new Dave Holland trio project, some hard-nosed improv from new releases on the Astral Spirits label (including a re-release of Cleveland's legendary Vernacular Trio), a look through some releases from the interesting catalogue of Belgium's El Negocito Records, a walk down memory lane with Joe Farrell's Moon Germs, and a recognition of the great alto player, Sonny Simmons, who passed recently. Playlist Dave Holland ...

Album Review

Sonny Simmons: Leaving Knowledge, Wisdom and Brilliance / Chasing the Bird?

Read "Leaving Knowledge, Wisdom and Brilliance / Chasing the Bird?" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 30, 2014

American alto sax and English horn (Cor Anglais) player Sonny Simmons needs no introduction. Now 81 years old, Simmons was a key player in America's free jazz eruption in the 1960s. He released his first solo albums on ESP- Disk, the exponent label of free jazz and recorded or played with legendary musicians like Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler, Charles Mingus and Don Cherry. Since the seventies his musical career went through some turbulent phases. Fortunately, in ...

Album Review

The Cosmosamatics: Jazz-Maalika

Read "Jazz-Maalika" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
March 2, 2014

The Cosmosamatics--an ever-evolving ensemble co-led by multi-reedists Sonny Simmons and Michael Marcus--was founded in 2000, though the seeds were arguably planted many years earlier. Half a century ago, Simmons was cutting his teeth with multi-reedists Prince Lasha, Eric Dolphy and others of the so-called free jazz movement. Marcus made his name in the avant/free circles of a later generation, so there was a natural symmetry to their eventual meeting in the early 1980s and subsequent collaborations. The Cosmosamatics has always ...

121

Album Review

Sonny Simmons: Staying on the Watch

Read "Staying on the Watch" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
August 14, 2010

The sixties were a time of turmoil and invention. Jazz was cast into several shapes by musicians who were willing to take chances, were not afraid to go against the grain, and believed in their vision to fathom and articulate new territory. Alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons was among those who added to lore. He could fathom a cry of anguish just as easily as he could herald a shout of joy, as he created an ambience that spread its wings ...

159

Album Review

Sonny Simmons: Staying on the Watch

Read "Staying on the Watch" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
August 11, 2010

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 ...

Crowdfunding Campaign

Photographer Richard Corman Plans Roadtrip To Benefit Jazz Foundation Of America

Source: Dashiell Feiler
July 29, 2015

Wendy Oxenhorn, Executive Director of Jazz Foundation of America, has launched an Indiegogo campaign. Oxenhorn plans to send photographer Richard Corman, whose photo work spans Bill Clinton to Madonna, and videographer Alan Gastelum across the United States to meet with and profile 50 jazz and blues greats. “I cannot keep watching such great individuals pass with so few traces of their existence and their work,' said Wendy Oxenhorn, “This project will ensure that we record the many-sided history of this ...
read more

165

Recording

Sonny Simmons - Staying on the Watch (Esp)

Source: Master of a Small House
May 23, 2010

Themes of urgency and vigilance embedded in the title to Sonny Simmons' ESP debut would dictate his music up through the present day. Simmons isn't one to suffer fools lightly and that intolerance for incompetence and hypocrisy cost him dearly at various times in his career. This auspicious set harkens to a stage prior to most of those setbacks when he was fronting a working group of like-minded peers and garnering praise as a member of the music's New Thing ...
read more

116

Performance / Tour

Sonny Simmons Quartet UK Tour

Source: Michael Ricci
April 1, 2010

U.S. sax legend Sonny Simmons is embarking on a major tour supported by Jazz Services Ltd and Arts Council England.

He will be performing with his regular U.K. quartet - Simmons (sax & cor anglais), Derek Saw (trumpet & valve trombone), John Jasnoch (guitar & oud) and Charlie Collins (drums & cajon).

They will be playing Cheltenham X-Posed Club (29 April), Sheffield Bar Abbey (2 May), London The Vortex (4), Bristol The Croft (6), Liverpool Bluecoat (7), Newcastle Bridge Hotel ...
read more

246

Music Industry

The Jazz Session #128: Dan Scofield on Sonny Simmons

Source: Michael Ricci
December 28, 2009

Saxophonist Sonny Simmons is the subject of a new documentary now in production called Just A Guy Who Knows. The filmmakers, Dan Scofield and Mike Ercolini, have so far produced a 20-minute trailer and are raising funds to finish a 45-minute short film on Simmons. The saxophonist has lived a remarkable life, moving from his days as a colleague of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins to near anonymity as a musician on the streets of San Francisco. Hes now back ...
read more