Results for "Sonny Stitt"

Sonny Stitt

Edward "Sonny" Stitt was a quintessential saxophonist of the bebop idiom. He was also one of the most prolific saxophonists, recording over 100 records in his lifetime. He was nicknamed the "Lone Wolf" by jazz critic Dan Morgenstern, due to his relentless touring and his devotion to jazz. Stitt was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. Stitt had a musical background; his father taught music, his brother was a classically trained pianist, and his mother was a piano teacher. His earliest recordings were from 1945, with Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. He had also experienced playing in some swing bands, though he mainly played in bop bands

Tom Kennedy: Stories From Behind and Beyond The Bass

By JIM WORSLEY

Tom Kennedy has never considered himself a prospector, but surely has tapped into a goldmine. As if releasing a hotshot new record wasn't enough, the world class jazz and fusion bassist is in compositional bliss with a bevy of new material yet to be recorded. Kennedy and I talk at length about his new writing technique ...

Joe Farnsworth: Friends In High Places

By R.J. DELUKE

Joe Farnsworth is one of the top jazz drummers working today, with a resume that includes some of the absolute greats. His muscular swing and precise timekeeping have been attractive to employers like Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall, McCoy Tyner, George Coleman, Pharoah Sanders, Eric Alexander, Benny Golson and many more. He likes to say ...

Meet Kenny Barron

By CRAIG JOLLEY

From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in March 2001. Jazz Education I recently retired from Rutgers University. Right now I teach piano one day a week at Manhattan School of Music. In September I'll be teaching at the new jazz program at Julliard. I've taught David Sanchez and ...

Josephine Davies: Way Out East: New Directions In Jazz

By CHRIS MAY

Compared to many other bands which have emerged on jny: London's paradigm-shifting jazz scene since the mid 2010s, saxophonist and composer Josephine Davies' trio Satori has attracted relatively little noise. There has been high praise from specialist critics but little mainstream media coverage and even less social media chatter. This may be because, unlike many of ...

Greg Abate: Man on a Journey

By ROB ROSENBLUM

After a warm up tune by the trio of Frank Puzzullo on piano, Sam Edwards on bass and Edwin Hamilton on drums, a medium sized fellow with slicked back hair and very casual attire walks on stage. He seems almost reticent as he acknowledges his audience at Fox's Music House in North Charleston, South Carolina—most of ...

Matt Wilson Quartet: Hug!

By DAN MCCLENAGHAN

Drummer Matt Wilson's quartet opens Hug! with Gene Ammons' “The One Before This." Saxophonist Ammons often used the tune as a showcase for tenor battles with fellow sax man Sonny Stitt. Wilson and company--featuring cornetist Kirk Knuffke, sax man Jeff Lederer and bassist Chris Lightcap--lay the sound down like a party. And this quartet parties hard. ...

Tom Lawton: Not Less Than Everything

By VICTOR L. SCHERMER

Not known, because not looked for But heard, half-heard, in the stillness Between two waves of the sea. Quick now, here, now, always-- A condition of complete simplicity (Costing not less than everything) --T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets; “Little Gidding" This poetic quotation ...

Sonny's Crib

By C. MICHAEL BAILEY

From the outset, pianist Sonny Clark's sophomore effort as a leader is crisp, white-hot hard bop. Leading a standard bop trumpet-tenor saxophone quintet (Donald Byrd, John Coltrane), supplemented with trombone (Curtis Fuller), Clark and his most reliable rhythm section of bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor carve five dictionary examples (with alternate takes on the ...

New Faces - New Sounds

By C. MICHAEL BAILEY

In the early 1950s, Blue Note Records introduced new artists in the label's series New Faces -New Sounds. It highlighted such young artists as Horace Silver (1952); Lou Donaldson (1952); Elmo Hope (1953); and Frank Foster (1954). All of these recordings were released as part of Blue Note Record's 5000 Modern Jazz Series, all on 10-inch ...