Fill me in on Sonny Stitt

[mikeweil]

..... and an encounter with Paul Gonsalves on "Salt & Pepper" (Impulse, another twofer, pairing it with Stitt's own "Now" album).

Forgot that one: Excellent!

[mikeweil]

.... and another one I like very very much:

Edited June 2, 2007 by mikeweil

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

My Mother's Eyes is a good one. O/P, I believe, tho the buys in Spain are about to reissue it. Take that for what it's worth.

Ah yes - with Charles Kynard - beautiful album.

There are really quite a lot...

But Sonny made over 150...

And that's more than a lot.

MG

[mmilovan]

If choice is only one take and one particular solo (instead of making decision above so many albums Sonny recorded) I will recommend:

"To Think You've Chosen Me" - Oct. 8, 1950.

Nice Junior Mance at the piano and unforgettable Sonny Stitt...

Edited June 2, 2007 by mmilovan

[AndrewHill]

Some others I can recommend:

Sonny Stitt / Bud Powell/ J. J. Johnson (Prestige)

Sonny Side Up (w. Rollins, Diz) (Verve)

Sits in With the Oscar Peterson Trio (Verve)

For Musicians Only (w. Diz, Getz) (Verve)

I've been pretty cautious with Stitt, because he tended to record more or less the same album over and over...

I really want to get Endgame Brilliance: Constellation / Tune-Up (32 Jazz), which everyone raves about, but it's causing a dilemma. It's OOP, and used copies cost a fortune on eBay. Slated for "re-release" by a European pirate firm, but I don't think I'll be comfortable going that route.

I have 'Sits in w/ O. Peterson' and its nice enough. The Penguin guide seems to praise that one as one of his finest. Besides that, I have the 'At the Hi Hat v.II' and I actually like that one a bit more. Go figure. I consequently sold the 'Sunny Side Up' cd because it really didn't do a whole lot for me.

[Shrdlu]

Art Blakey's Impulse album "A Jazz Message" has some fine Stitt. (It's a quartet album, with McCoy Tyner and Art Davis.)

And the "Stitt Plays Bird" album has been a favorite for many years. John Lewis adds a lot to that.

I am another who only listens to a bit of Stitt at a time, because he does play a lot of the same riffs over and over.

But Sonny sure was a master alto and tenor man.

[king ubu]

I don't what's the consensus on this one, but I enjoy it! It's a bit of a departure (the "Goin' Down Slow" twofer on Fantasy, two 1972 albums, one with strings and Thad Jones, the other an all acoustic quartet with Hampton Hawes, would be another departure of a kind) from his usual fare, with fine arrangements by Tadd Dameron and Jimmy Mundy:

I think Blue Mitchell gets a solo spot somewhere, other musicians involved include Jimmy Cleveland, Matthew Gee, Duke Jordan (piano) or Perri Jones (organ), Joe Benjamin and Philly Joe.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

It does make an interesting change of scene for Sonny. The organist, by the way, is Perri Lee, whose real name is Perry Lee Blackwell. In '57 she recorded an album under that name with Curtis Amy and Johnny Kirkwood, which I'd give my eye teeth to get.

She also made an album for Roulette at Birdland in 1960.

Another unsung heroine of the B3!

MG

No, it was at Count Basie's.

Edited June 3, 2007 by The Magnificent Goldberg

[king ubu]

Took the (wrong) name from CDU where I got the pic from, sorry! Was too lazy to look for the disc in my shelves!

[Dan Gould]

Oh, just get them all. Stitt never had an off-day and never just "mailed it in". That's why so many labels recorded him so often.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Oh, just get them all. Stitt never had an off-day and never just "mailed it in". That's why so many labels recorded him so often.

That's perfectly true. But a lot are rather similar. I have 75, and I know that's perfectly true. Do you have them all Dan?

MG

[T.D.]

Can anyone recommend Only The Blues (w. Eldridge, on Verve)? The late lamented "clifton" (Marc Meyers) on AAJ used to rave about it...but it's OOP and hard to find unless you do downloads. I've bid on eBay, but not been willing to go high enough.

[six string]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll be making a list from these for my next trip to the record store.

[king ubu]

Can anyone recommend Only The Blues (w. Eldridge, on Verve)? The late lamented "clifton" (Marc Meyers) on AAJ used to rave about it...but it's OOP and hard to find unless you do downloads. I've bid on eBay, but not been willing to go high enough.

It's not bad, but I prefer Stitt on tenor and he's mostly on alto there... I found a copy with a damaged booklet (last page is cut off but the text is pasted there as a b/w photocopy...) at a used store, some time ago. I wouldn't go places to get it, unless you're the kind of nut I am (wanting to have all the Verve Elite Edition releases... or all Stitt - that's not my goal, though).

There was also a nice one in that Chess reissue series, compiling about half each of three Stitt Argo albums:

This is the cover of the US edition, I think, the European one was a reddish digipack with different photo. Best part of it is the second album pairing Stitt with Zoot Sims, but alas, as with the other two albums, only half of it is on this disc...

[Shawn]

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Oh, just get them all. Stitt never had an off-day and never just "mailed it in". That's why so many labels recorded him so often.

That's perfectly true. But a lot are rather similar. I have 75, and I know that's perfectly true. Do you have them all Dan?

MG

Slow thinking day yesterday.

The reason Sonny made all those albums (and he didn't have a recording contract most of his life) was because the companies were pretty sure they would make money. And weren't disappointed. So they made more. Whenever Sonny wanted to.

Hence the similarities between many. If you had gone around the country, following Sonny to one gig after another, in towns that rarely ever got to see a top flight jazzman, I'm sure you'd have seen the same phenomenon. The differences would have been in the competence of the local rhythm section (and maybe there'd be a local sax player who wanted lessons on stage).

MG

[mtodde]

How High the Moon is my favorite Stitt album...I may have to pick up the three originals.

Live at the Hi Hat, Sonny Side Up & Salt & Pepper are all outstanding.

I also recommend Sonny Stitt Blows the Blues. His album with Bud Powell is another winner too; I picked up a 10" reissue recently.

[Swinging Swede]

I prefer Stitt on tenor and he's mostly on alto there...

For me it's the opposite; I prefer Stitt on alto. The Bird link perhaps.

There was also a nice one in that Chess reissue series, compiling about half each of three Stitt Argo albums:

This is the cover of the US edition, I think, the European one was a reddish digipack with different photo. Best part of it is the second album pairing Stitt with Zoot Sims, but alas, as with the other two albums, only half of it is on this disc...

That was another one of those maddening Orrin-Keepnews-produced CDs, where no original album was complete. Fortunately all three have now come out on CD, if you want to have them complete. Inter-Action with Zoot Sims and My Main Man with Bennie Green were both on Japanese CDs not that many years ago, and Burnin' has just been released by the Andorrans on a Barry Harris twofer called Breakin' It Up. The rationale for that album coupling is that they had the same trio recorded on two consecutive days, with Stitt added the second day. Since the CD isn't under Stitt's name this reissue may have slipped under the radar of some Stitt collectors.

[Allan Songer]

Here's one that I pull out at least once a month:

Side one has a tenor battle (Lester Leaps In) and a Alto battle (Atlas Blues) with Art Pepper. This is a really fine session and an AMAZING recording.

Side two has two Stitt quartet cuts and two Pepper quartet cuts.

The rythym section consists of John Heard on bass, Carl Burnett on drums and Russ Freeman on piano.

It's called Atlas Blues: Blow! & Ballade and it's on Atlas Records. I'm sure there was a CD release in the 90's. The LP shows up on ebay once in a while and sells for about $40-$50.

Edited June 4, 2007 by Allan Songer

[Dan Gould]

Oh, just get them all. Stitt never had an off-day and never just "mailed it in". That's why so many labels recorded him so often.

That's perfectly true. But a lot are rather similar. I have 75, and I know that's perfectly true. Do you have them all Dan?

MG

Slow thinking day yesterday.

The reason Sonny made all those albums (and he didn't have a recording contract most of his life) was because the companies were pretty sure they would make money. And weren't disappointed. So they made more. Whenever Sonny wanted to.

Hence the similarities between many. If you had gone around the country, following Sonny to one gig after another, in towns that rarely ever got to see a top flight jazzman, I'm sure you'd have seen the same phenomenon. The differences would have been in the competence of the local rhythm section (and maybe there'd be a local sax player who wanted lessons on stage).

MG

Well, MG, my attempt at humor was a reference to the fact that I think that Sonny did "mail it in" on occasion and didn't always have the very best accompaniment (though that might have been more in the performance than the recording arena).

Then again, even when Sonny was a little off, he was still pretty "on".

[kh1958]

Here's one that I pull out at least once a month:

Side one has a tenor battle (Lester Leaps In) and a Alto battle (Atlas Blues) with Art Pepper. This is a really fine session and an AMAZING recording.

Side two has two Stitt quartet cuts and two Pepper quartet cuts.

The rythym section consists of John Heard on bass, Carl Burnett on drums and Russ Freeman on piano.

It's called Atlas Blues: Blow! & Ballade and it's on Atlas Records. I'm sure there was a CD release in the 90's. The LP shows up on ebay once in a while and sells for about $40-$50.

This is included in the Art Pepper Hollywood All-Stars box set (at least the cuts with Art Pepper on them). The five CD set is currently only $50 at amazon.com and is well worth it.

Edited June 4, 2007 by kh1958

[brownie]

Sony Stitt in 1982 with an all-French rhythm section, René Urtreger on piano, Pierre Michelot on bass and Eric Dervieux on drums:

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=zXOrCSikcrk

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=RIdssv80Syw&...ted&search=

[montg]

I thought I'd bump this thread up, looking for ideas and thoughts about SS. Out of the nearly 1,000 jazz cds I have, sad to say none feature Stitt as a leader.

[user0815]

I thought I'd bump this thread up, looking for ideas and thoughts about SS. Out of the nearly 1,000 jazz cds I have, sad to say none feature Stitt as a leader.

just pick up the two verve albums that have been reissued in the verve lpr series some years ago and are still around:

"new york jazz"

"personal appearance"

two fine quartet albums from the mid 1950s

[kh1958]

Buy any of the Prestiges with Don Patterson and Billy James, with or without other musicians.