Happy Birthday Edward "SONNY" Stitt February 2, 1924, Boston, Massachusetts "We Love You"

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Edward "Sonny" Stitt (b. February 2, 1924, Boston, Massachusetts – d. July 22, 1982, Washington, D.C. was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the most well-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 records in his lifetime. He was nicknamed the "Lone Wolf" by jazz critic Dan Morgenstern in tribute to his relentless touring and his devotion to jazz...Click to read more....




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He is considered the greatest disciple of Charlie Parker. Although his playing was at first heavily inspired by Charlie Parker and Lester Young, Stitt eventually developed his own style, one which influenced John Coltrane. Stitt was especially effective with blues and with ballad pieces such as "Skylark".

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Stitt was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. Stitt had a musical background; his father was a college music professor, his brother was a classically trained pianist, and his mother was a piano teacher.

In 1943 Stitt first met Charlie Parker, and as he often later recalled, the two men found that their styles had an extraordinary similarity that was partly coincidental and not merely due to Stitt's emulation.

Stitt's earliest recordings were made in 1945 with Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. He had also experienced playing in some swing bands, though he mainly played in bop bands.

Stitt featured in Tiny Bradshaw's big band in the early forties. Stitt replaced Charlie Parker in Dizzy Gillespie's band in 1945

Stitt played alto saxophone in Billy Eckstine's big band alongside future bop pioneers

Dexter Gordon

John Malachi and




Gene Ammons from 1945 until 1949, when he started to play tenor saxophone more frequently.

Later on, he notably played with Gene Ammons and Bud Powell. Stitt spent time in a Lexington prison between 1948–49 for selling narcotics.

Stitt, when playing tenor saxophone, seemed to break free from some of the criticism that he was imitating Charlie Parker's style, although it appears in the instance with Ammons above that the availability of the larger instrument was a factor. Indeed, Stitt began to develop a far more distinctive sound on tenor.

He played with other bop musicians Bud Powell and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, a fellow tenor with a distinctly tough tone in comparison to Stitt, in the 1950s and recorded a number of sides for Prestige Records label as well as albums for Argo, Verve and Roost. Stitt experimented with Afro-Cuban jazz in the late 1950s, and the results can be heard on his recordings for Roost and Verve, on which he teamed up with Thad Jones and Chick Corea for Latin versions of such standards as "Autumn Leaves."

Stitt joined Miles Davis briefly in 1960, and recordings with Davis' quintet can be found only in live settings on the tour of 1960.

Concerts in Manchester and Paris are available commercially and also a number of concerts (which include sets by the earlier quintet with John Coltrane) on the record Live at Stockholm (Dragon), all of which featured

Wynton Kelly,




Jimmy Cobb

Paul Chambers. However, Miles fired Stitt due to the excessive drinking habit he had developed, and replaced him with fellow tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley. Stitt, later in the 1960s paid homage to one of his main influences, Charlie Parker, on the album Stitt Plays Bird, which features Jim Hall on guitar and at Newport in 1964 with other bebop players including J.J. Johnson.

He recorded a number of memorable records with his friend and fellow saxophonist Gene Ammons, interrupted by Ammons' own imprisonment for narcotics possession. The records recorded by these two saxophonists are regarded by many as some of both Ammons and Stitt's best work, thus the Ammons/Stitt partnership went down in posterity as one of the best duelling partnerships in jazz,

alongside Zoot Sims & Al Cohn,




Johnny Griffin with

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis.


Stitt would venture into soul jazz, and he recorded with fellow tenor saxophonist

Booker Ervin in 1964 on the Soul People album. Stitt would also record with

Duke Ellington alumnus

Paul Gonsalves during the 1960s. Around that time he also appeared regularly at Ronnie Scott's in London, a live 1964 recording with Ronnie Scott, The Night Has A Thousand Eyes, would eventually be released, and another in 1966 with resident guitarist Ernest Ranglin and British tenor saxophonist Dick Morrissey.




Later life

In the 1970s, Stitt slowed his recording output slightly, and in 1972, he produced another classic, Tune Up, which was and still is regarded by many jazz critics, such as Scott Yanow, as his definitive record. Indeed, his fiery and ebullient soloing was quite reminiscent of his earlier playing. Stitt was one of the first jazz musicians to experiment with an electric saxophone (the instrument was called a Varitone), as heard on the album Just The Way It Was - Live At The Left Bank, recorded in 1971 and released in 2000.




Stitt, joining the Giants of Jazz

(which included Art Blakey,

Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody and Thelonious Monk) on some albums for the Mercury Records label, and recording sessions for Cobblestone and other labels. His last recordings were made in Japan. Sadly, in 1982 Stitt suffered a heart attack, and he died on July 22.

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Up Over Jazz Cafe - Larry Ridley and Jazz Legacy Ensemble w/ Jed Levy-tenor sax, Richard Wyands-piano, Jimmy Wormworth-drums featuring George V Johnson Jr - Heir Apparent to the Late Great Eddie Jefferson - Original Lyrics to "MY LITTLE SUEDE SHOES" The Art of Jazz



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George,

Thank you for your impressive E-mail message and the enclosed photographs. It was great meeting you and hearing you. Though you had a comforting job and an abundance of security as a conductor with The New Jersey Transit, it's obvious your heart lies within the existing realm of the music we lovingly call jazz. Few of us will ever get rich by engaging in this pursuit, but our hearts will be overrun with joy and satisfaction for having done it.

Time cannot be so cruel as to keep us apart indefinitely. So, onward and upward as we chase our dreams with a votive and determined effort, in spite of all else, with an inelluctable spirit of success concerning our proleptic tomorrows. We have no choice but to HIT IT over and over again at every opportunity as faithful visionaries letting no one or anything get in our way.

Noblesse Oblige,

Benny Golson

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The great saxophonist "Benny Golson" & GVJ in the dressing room before the concert at the Israel International Super Jazz Festival Ashdod...





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