Sonny Stitt

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Sonny Stitt (1978)

Sonny Stitt (born February 2, 1924 in Boston , † July 22, 1982 in Washington, DC ; actually Edward Boatner Jr. ) was an alto and tenor saxophonist of bebop and hard bop . His sound on the alto saxophone was similar to Charlie Parker's , as musicians like Quincy Jones noted. He says he found this sound long before he met Parker. As a technically adept saxophone player, he influenced many colleagues, including John Coltrane , Booker Ervin , James Moody , Hank Mobley and Ronnie Scott . The jazz critic Dan Morgenstern nicknamed him "lonely wolf" ( Lone Wolf ) in reference to his relentless touring and devotion to jazz.

Live and act

Stitt's parents were both music teachers, so he grew up in a musical environment. Stitt spent his childhood in Saginaw (Michigan) and had piano lessons from the age of seven, but later switched to the clarinet . At fifteen, he played alto saxophone after hearing Charlie Parker on a recording by band leader Jay McShann.

Stitt initially took lessons from "Big Nick" Nicholas, a local saxophonist, and from Wardell Gray , who often stayed with them because there were few African American hotels in the area. Even before he graduated from high school, he toured in bands with Nicholas and trumpeter Thad Jones .

In 1942 Stitt performed in Boston with pianist William "Sabby" Lewis before joining the Bama State Collegians. This engagement led him to the big band of the singer Tiny Bradshaw , in which other later bebop musicians such as Fats Navarro , Dexter Gordon , Gene Ammons and Art Blakey played. Stitt, who sought to meet Parker in Kansas in 1942, described that Parker accused him after a joint jam session: "You sound too much like me".

Stitt was a member of Billy Eckstine's band ( Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra ) in 1945 and played with Dizzy Gillespie in 1946 , where Gene Ammons was also engaged. During this time he became addicted to heroin and his cabaret card was withdrawn (drug possession was sufficient), which made it impossible for him to perform in New York's nightclubs. He went to Chicago, where he appeared in sessions with Ammons and Miles Davis and with Johnny Griffin at the Pershing Ballroom . In the summer of 1947 he played in Detroit with Parker, Davis and Gillespie; he also recorded for Sensation Records . In 1947 he was voted "New Star" on the alto saxophone in the Esquire Magazine polls. Convicted of drug trafficking, he spent 1948/49 in the Federal Narcotics Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky .

Back in New York he switched to the tenor and baritone saxophone . So he could escape the image of the alleged Parker impersonator. Stitt's improvisations, however, were more melodic; while turning to the tenor saxophone, Stitt referred to his role model Lester Young .

In 1949 he made his recording debut as a leader on the album All God's Chillun Got Rhythm with Bud Powell and JJ Johnson . In December 1949, he performed with Davis, Powell, Benny Green , Serge Chaloff , Curley Russell and Max Roach at Carnegie Hall .

From 1949 to 1952 he had his own septet with Ammons, where their battles (with Chase Chorussen as in Blues Up and Down 1950) became famous. In the 1950s he was the leader of constantly changing small groups and in 1954 followed up with Eddie Lockjaw Davis ( Battle of Birdland ), and later with Sonny Rollins , Illinois Jacquet , Paul Gonsalves , Stan Getz and Dexter Gordon , and presented to the Two Tenors series numerous own albums. He toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic from 1957 to 1959 , performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 (documented as a duo with Sal Salvador in the film Jazz on a Summer's Day ) and returned to the Dizzy Gillespie Band at the end of the decade.

He replaced John Coltrane in the Miles Davis Quintet in September 1960 and stayed with Davis until the beginning of 1961. The high point of this time is the recording In Stockholm 1960 . He also recorded with his friend Ammons in the early 1960s. Then he joined a sextet with JJ Johnson and Clark Terry for a tour of Japan. In 1964 he recorded the album Soul People with tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin . In 1966 Stitt toured Europe several times, playing at festivals and well-known clubs such as the Gyllene Cirkeln in Stockholm. From 1966 he also played an electrically amplified saxophone ( Varitone ). From 1971 to 1972 he was a member of the Giants of Jazz with Gillespie, Kai Winding , Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey, with whom he performed at the Berlin Jazz Days .

His albums Tune up! and Constellation from 1972 were hits. In the 1970s, Stitt found a lot of work in Europe and played at major jazz festivals. He later performed internationally with Red Holloway , with whom the album Partner was created in January 1977. Stitt died of cancer in 1982 at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington DC.

Discographic notes

Sonny Stitt "Count Every Star" 78 single
  • Sonny Stitt with Bud Powell and JJ Johnson , 1949-1950, Prestige
  • Stitt's Bits: The Bebop Recordings , 1949–1952, Prestige 2006, 3 CD, (among others with Gene Ammons)
  • Kaleidoscope , 1950-1952, Prestige
  • For Musicians Only , 1956, Verve (with Gillespie, Stan Getz, John Lewis , Ray Brown , Stan Levey )
  • Sonny Side up , 1957, Polygram (with Gillespie, Sonny Rollins)
  • Stitt Meets Brother Jack , Prestige 1962 (with Jack McDuff )
  • Boss Tenors in Orbit , 1962 Verve (with Gene Ammons)
  • Sonny Stitt Sits In with the Oscar Peterson Trio , 1957-1959, Verve
  • Salt and Pepper , 1963, Impulse
  • Stitt plays Bird , 1963, Atlantic, (with Jim Hall , John Lewis, Richard Davis , Connie Kay )
  • Soul People , 1964–1969, Prestige (with Booker Ervin)
  • Sonny's Blues , 1964 (Live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club )
  • Tune-up! , 1972, Muse (with Barry Harris , Sam Jones , Alan Dawson )
  • Constellation , 1972, Muse (with Barry Harris, Sam Jones, Roy Brooks )
  • 12! , 1972, Muse (with Barry Harris, Sam Jones, Louis Hayes )
  • Sonny's Back , 1980, Muse
  • Sonny, Sweets and Jaws - Live at Bubbas, Whos Who in Jazz 1981 (with Sweets Edison , Eddie Lockjaw Davis )
  • Last Stitt Sessions , 1982, Muse
collection
As a sideman

Lexical entries

Web links

Commons : Sonny Stitt  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ After adoption by stepfather at the age of 7, Stitt
  2. ↑ "There are only a few possibilities to produce a good alto saxophone sound - Parker and Stitt share one of the possibilities." (Quoted from Martin Kunzler, Jazz-Lexikon )
  3. ↑ a b c Martin Kunzler: Jazz Lexicon. Volume 2: M – Z (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16513). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16513-9 , p. 1285.
  4. ^ A b Marc Myers: Sonny Stitt: Varitone Redux. (Report at All About Jazz 2011) ( Memento of the original from July 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.allaboutjazz.com
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Eric Wendell Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians (jazz.com) ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jazz.com
  6. ↑ Stitt's father Edward was a music professor (teacher) and had positions at Wiley College and Sam Houston State University. His mother was a music teacher and played the piano and organ. Sonny's brother Clifford was a classical pianist and his sister Adelaide was a singer who appeared on Broadway shows like Jamaica, Too Late the Phalarope and Show Boat .
  7. ↑ Interview with Leonard Feather
  8. ↑ Ira Gitler Jazz Masters of the 40s , Da Capo 1983, p. 41
  9. ↑ According to Martin Kunzler, he "had a similarly swinging sound and offered a comparable technique, but phrased rhythmically more direct, more evenly flowing and more symmetrical in structure than the bop innovator, ie without its ingenious discontinuities and complexities."
personal data
SURNAME Stitt, Sonny
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American saxophonist
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 1982
Place of death Washington, DC