Sonny Stitt: 10 Great Organ Intros

Sonny Stitt loved organ intros. The bigger and more dramatic the better, with plenty of keyboard articulation and suspense. When the organ opener was played just right, it came off like a groovy fanfare that set up his entry on tenor or alto saxophone. To celebrate this sound, I pulled 10 of my favorite organ openers from Stitt's many albums: 

Here's Don Patterson opening Long Ago and Far Away on Boss Tenors in Orbit in 1962, with Stitt playing first and then tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons...



Here's Eddie Buster on organ followed by Stitt on alto playing I'm in the Mood for Love from Sonny Stitt at the D.J. Lounge, in 1961...



Here's Brother Jack McDuff on organ opening When Sonny Gets Blue from Sonny Meets Brother Jack, in 1962...



Here's McDuff from the same album opening Thirty-Three, Ninety Six, in 1962...



Here's McDuff opening Sunday from Soul Shack in 1963...



Here's Don Patterson's intro to Who Can I Turn To from Night Crawler in 1965...



Here's Patterson on the same song but live, but with Stitt on varitone, from Just the Way It Was: Live at the Left Bank, in 1971...



Here's Charles Kynard on organ opening Don't Go to Strangers from My Mother's Eyes, in 1963...



Here's Patterson opening Over the Rainbow with Stitt on varitone from Soul Electricity in 1968...



And here's Patterson's lead in to Shangri-La from the album of the same name, in 1964...



Bonus: Here's When You Wish Upon a Star, with McDuff opening and featuring Gene Ammons (first to play) and Sonny Stitt from Soul Summit, in 1962...