Sonny Stitt

Edward "Sonny" Stitt (born Edward Boatner, Jr., February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982) was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums. He was nicknamed the "Lone Wolf" by jazz critic Dan Morgenstern, in reference to his relentless touring and devotion to jazz.

Edward Boatner, Jr. was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. He had a musical background; his father, Edward Boatner, was a baritone singer, composer and college music professor, his brother was a classically trained pianist, and his mother was a piano teacher. Boatner was soon adopted by another family, the Stitts, who gave him his new surname. He later began calling himself "Sonny".

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 improvisations were more melodic and less dissonant than those of Parker. Stitt's earliest recordings were made in 1945 with Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. He had also played in some swing bands, though he mainly played in bop bands. Stitt was 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 and Gene Ammons from 1945 until 1956, when he started to play tenor saxophone more frequently, in order to avoid being referred to as a Charlie Parker imitator. Later on, he 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 and 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 and Al Cohn, and 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 also recorded with Duke Ellington alumnus Paul Gonsalves in 1963 for Impulse! on the Salt And Pepper album in 1963. Around that time he also appeared regularly at Ronnie Scott's in London, a live 1964 encounter with Ronnie Scott, The Night Has A Thousand Eyes, eventually surfaced, and another in 1966 with resident guitarist Ernest Ranglin and British tenor saxophonist Dick Morrissey. Stitt was one of the first jazz musicians to experiment with an electric saxophone (the instrument was called a Varitone), as heard on the albums What's New in 1966 and Parallel-A-Stitt in 1967.

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. He also recorded another album with Varitone, Just The Way It Was - Live At The Left Bank in 1971 which was released in 2000.

Stitt joined the all-star group Giants of Jazz (which also featured Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Kai Winding and bassist Al McKibbon) and made albums for Atlantic Records, Concord Records and Emarcy Records. His last recordings were made in Japan. In 1982, Stitt suffered a heart attack, and he died on July 22 in Washington, D.C..

Discography

As leader/co-leader

• 1949-50: Sonny Stitt/Bud Powell/J. J. Johnson (Prestige [1956])
• 1950: Stitt's Bits (Prestige [1958])
• 1950-52: Kaleidoscope (Prestige [1957])
• 1954: Jazz at the Hi-Hat (Roost)
• 1954: The Battle of Birdland (Roost) - with Eddie Davis
• 1955: Sonny Stitt Plays Arrangements from the Pen of Quincy Jones (Roost)
• 1956: Sonny Stitt Plays (Roost)
• 1956: New York Jazz (Verve)
• 1956: For Musicians Only (Verve) - with Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz
• 1957: 37 Minutes and 48 Seconds with Sonny Stitt (Roost)
• 1957: Personal Appearance (Verve)
• 1957: Sonny Stitt with the New Yorkers (Roost)
• 1957: Only the Blues (Verve)
• 1957: Sonny Side Up (Verve) - with Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins
• 1958: The Saxophones of Sonny Stitt (Roost)
• 1958: Sonny Stitt (Argo)
• 1958: Burnin' (Argo)
• 1959: The Hard Swing (Verve)
• 1959: A Little Bit of Stitt (Roost)
• 1959: Sonny Stitt Sits in with the Oscar Peterson Trio (Verve) - with Oscar Peterson
• 1959: The Sonny Side of Stitt (Roost)
• 1959: Sonny Stitt Blows the Blues (Verve)
• 1959: Saxophone Supremacy (Verve)
• 1959: Sonny Stitt Swings the Most (Verve)
• 1960: Stittsville (Roost)
• 1960: Previously Unreleased Recordings (Prestige)
• 1960: Sonny Side Up (Roost)
• 1961: The Sensual Sound of Sonny Stitt (Verve) - with the Ralph Burns Strings
• 1961: Sonny Stitt at the D. J. Lounge (Argo)
• 1961: Dig Him! (Argo) - with Gene Ammons
• 1961: Boss Tenors (Verve) - with Gene Ammons
• 1962: Stitt Meets Brother Jack (Prestige) - with Jack McDuff
• 1962: Boss Tenors in Orbit! (Verve) - with Gene Ammons
• 1962: Soul Summit (Prestige) - with Gene Ammons and Jack McDuff
• 1962: Feelin's (Roost)
• 1962: Low Flame (Jazzland)
• 1960-62: Stitt in Orbit (Roost)
• 1962: Sonny Stitt & the Top Brass (Atlantic)
• 1962: Rearin' Back (Argo)
• 1963: Stitt Plays Bird (Atlantic)
• 1963: My Mother's Eyes (Pacific Jazz) - with Charles Kynard
• 1963: Move on Over (Argo)
• 1963: Now! (Impulse)
• 1963: Salt And Pepper (Impulse)
• 1963: Soul Shack (Prestige)
• 1963: Stitt Goes Latin (Roost)
• 1963: Primitivo Soul! (Prestige)
• 1964: My Main Man (Argo) - with Bennie Green
• 1964: Shangri-La (Prestige) - with Don Patterson
• 1964: Soul People (Prestige) - with Booker Ervin and Don Patterson
• 1965: Inter-Action (Cadet) - with Zoot Sims
• 1965: Broadway Soul (Colpix)
• 1965: Sax Expressions (Roost)
• 1965: Live at Ronnie Scott's
• 1965: The Matadors Meet the Bull (Roulette)
• 1965: Pow! (Prestige)
• 1965: Night Crawler (Prestige) - with Don Patterson
• 1966: Soul in the Night (Cadet) - with Bunky Green
• 1966: What's New!!! (Roulette)
• 1966: I Keep Comin' Back! (Roulette)
• 1966: Deuces Wild (Atlantic) - with Robin Kenyatta
• 1967: Parallel-a-Stitt (Roulette)
• 1968: Made for Each Other (Delmark)
• 1968: Soul Electricity! (Prestige)
• 1968: Little Green Apples (Solid State)
• 1968: Come Hither (Solid State)
• 1969: Night Letter (Prestige)
• 1971: Turn It On! (Prestige)
• 1971: You Talk That Talk! (Prestige) - with Gene Ammons
• 1971: Black Vibrations (Prestige)
• 1971: Just the Way It Was (Hyena)
• 1972: Tune-Up! (Cobblestone)
• 1972: Goin' Down Slow (Prestige)
• 1972: Constellation (Cobblestone)
• 1972: So Doggone Good (Prestige)
• 1972: 12! (Muse)
• 1973: Mr. Bojangles (Cadet)
• 1973: The Champ (Muse)
• 1973: God Bless Jug and Sonny (Prestige) - with Gene Ammons
• 1973: Left Bank Encores (Prestige) - with Gene Ammons
• 1973: Together Again for the Last Time (Prestige) - with Gene Ammons
• 1974: Satan (Cadet)
• 1975: Never Can Say Goodbye (Cadet)
• 1975: Mellow (Muse)
• 1975: Dumpy Mama (Flying Dutchman)
• 1975: My Buddy: Sonny Stitt Plays for Gene Ammons (Muse)
• 1975: Blues for Duke (Muse)
• 1976: Forecast: Sonny & Red (Catalyst) - with Red Holloway
• 1977: I Remember Bird (Catalyst Records)
• 1977: A Tribute To Duke Ellington (With Strings) (Catalyst)
• 1978: Sonny Stitt Quintet (Finite Records)
• 1980: Groovin' High (Atlas Records)
• 1980: Atlas Blues "Blow & Ballad" (Atlas)
• 1980: Sonny's Back (Muse)
• 1981: In Style (Muse)
• 1981: Sonny, Sweets and Jaws- Live at Bubbas, Whos Who in Jazz (with Harry "Sweets" Edison, Eddie Lockjaw Davis)
• 1981: Just in Case You Forgot How Bad He Really Was
• 1982: The Last Stitt Sessions (Muse)

As sideman

With Gene Ammons

• All Star Sessions (Prestige, 1950–55)

With Art Blakey

• A Jazz Message (Impulse!, 1963)
• In Walked Sonny (Sonet, 1975)

With Dizzy Gillespie

• Duets (Verve, 1957)
• The Giants of Jazz (Atlantic, 1971) with Art Blakey, Al McKibbon, Thelonious Monk and Kai Winding
• The Bop Session (Sonet, 1975) with John Lewis, Hank Jones, Percy Heath and Max Roach

With Milt Jackson

• Loose Walk (Palcoscenico Records)

With Don Patterson

• Patterson's People (Prestige, 1964)
• The Boss Men (Prestige, 1965)
• Funk You! (Prestige, 1968)
• Brothers-4 (Prestige, 1969)
• Donny Brook (Prestige, 1969)
• Tune Up! (Prestige, 1964–69)

With Zimbo Trio

• Zimbo Trio invites Sonny Stitt, (1979) Clam/Continental

References

Notes

External links

• Sonny Stitt at Verve Records
• Sonny Stitt at the Hard Bop Homepage
• BBC - Radio 3 Jazz Profiles - Sonny Stitt

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