In 1980, legendary altoist Sonny Simmons was at his lowest point. Describing himself as “shipwrecked when the gigs dried up and the money ran out, Simmons followed his wife and frequent collaborator, trumpeter Barbara Donald, from San Francisco to Olympia, Washington, with the hope that the change of scene would revitalize their tenuous marriage and put ...

Album

Live At Rive De Gier

By Sonny Simmons

Label: Milestone Records
Released: 2006

Album

I'll See You When I Get There

By Sonny Simmons

Label: Milestone Records
Released: 2006

142

Article: Multiple Reviews

The Complete ESP-Disk Recordings; The Traveller

by Jeff Stockton
April 16, 2006

Sonny Simmons The Complete ESP-Disk Recordings ESP-Disk 2005 Clifford Allen's informative and revealing interview with Sonny Simmons, included with ESP's two-disc reissue of Simmons' first efforts as a leader (Staying on the Watch and Music From the Spheres) clears up much of what happened to the master alto ...

Album

Jewels

By Sonny Simmons

Label: Boxholder Records
Released: 2005
Track listing: Music Matador; Cosmic Funk; Caribbean Nights; Other Worlds; Reverend Church

Album

The Traveller

By Sonny Simmons

Label: Jazzaway
Released: 2005
Track listing: Humphrey; Armada; Spheres; Duet; Brainstorm; Sunset.

198

Article: Album Review

Sonny Simmons: The Traveller

Read "The Traveller" reviewed by Rex Butters

by Rex Butters
November 12, 2005

Even at 72, the great Sonny Simmons still comes up with the unexpected. On The Traveller, the veteran musician nestles into beautiful compositions and arrangements by Vidar Johansen with a group augmented by an elite string quartet from the Oslo Philharmonic. Johansen surrounds Simmons in strong, open charts that create taut frameworks for improvisational weaving. The ...