Sony Stitt

Edward " Sonny" Stitt (February 2nd 1924 - July 22nd 1982) was a Saxophoniste of Jazz of style Bebop. Very prolific, it recorded more than 100 albums in its life. It was called the " Wolf solitaire" by the critic of jazz daN Morgenstern because of its many rounds and its devotion to the jazz.

Life and work

Stitt was born with Boston in the Massachusetts and grew with Saginaw in the Michigan. Stitt was of a family of musicians: his/her father taught the music, his brother was traditional pianist, his mother piano teacher. Its first recordings go back to 1945 with Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. Stitt played certainly in orchestras swing but especially in orchestras Bebop. It belonged to the big band of Tiny Bradshaw with the beginning of the year 1940.

Stitt played of the alto saxophone in the big band of Billy Eckstine beside future pioneers of the bebop like Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons of 1945 to 1949 when it then started more frequently to play of the saxophone tenor. Later, he played in particular with Gene Ammons and Bud Powell. Stitt purged a sorrow with the prison of Lexington in 1948-49 for drug trafficking.

When he played of the saxophone tenor, Stitt seemed to be released from criticisms according to which he singeait the style of the genius Charlie Parker. When the saxophonist viola Gene Quill was shown by a journalist of jazz to too much play like Parker, he retorted " , Thus tries you to imitate it! ".

In fact, Stitt started to develop a quite original sound with the tenor. In the years 1950, he played with the musicians bebop Bud Powell and his disciple the saxophonist tenor Eddie " Lockjaw" Davis and recorded several albims for the emerging label Prestige Records and also for Argo, Verve and Roost. It is generally estimated that the play of Stitt is with its apogee on these recordings now rare. At the end of the years 1950, Stitt tried out the jazz Cuban Negro and one can listen to the fruit of it on the recordings for Roost and Verve on which it is associated with Thad Jones and Chick Corea for Latin interpretations of standards like " Autumn Leaves ."

Stitt joined Miles Davis briefly in 1960 and its single performance with the quintet of 1960 is on the disc Live At Stockholm with Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers. However, Miles drove out it because of its alcoholism to replace it by the saxophonist tenor Hank Mobley.

Then Stitt paid homage to its principal Master, Charlie Parker, on the album " Stitt Plays Bird" with Jim Hall with the guitar. Stitt recorded many memorable recordings with his/her friend and disciple, the saxophonist Gene Ammons. These recordings are often regarded as the best at the same time of Ammons and Stitt. Ammons/Stitt collaboration is besides one of best of the history of the jazz with that of Zoot Sims and Al Cohn and that of Johnny Griffin with Eddie " Lockjaw" Davis. Then Stitt turned to the drunk Jazz and recorded with the saxophonist tenor Booker Ervin on the album Soul People in 1964. Stitt also recorded in the years 1960 with the pupil of Duke Ellington, Paul Gonsalves. In the years 1970, Stitt somewhat slowed down its production but in 1972, it all the same produced another traditional Tune Up , which is still today regarded per many criticisms of jazz such Scott Yanow as its quintessence. Stitt was one of the first musicians of jazz to éperimenter an electric saxophone (the instrument was called a Varitone), as one can hear it on the album Just The Way It Was - Live At The Left Bank , recorded in 1971 and published in 2000.

External bonds

Sony Stitt on Liveliness Records
Sony Stitt on the Hardware Bop homepage
BBC - Radio 3 Jazz Profile - Sony Stitt
Ruminator >> The Sony Side off the Street
Some transcriptions in format pdf

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