2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Go, Sonny, Go!, July 18, 2006
This review is from: 12 (Audio CD)
After a couple of years of floundering around in often quasi-jazz settings playing a let's-cater-to-the-younger-crowd electric alto sax (a varitone), Sonny got his act together again and by 1972 was putting out very decent solid bop albums with excellent sidemen joining him. (Muse Records must be commended for rescuing many hard boppers from a fate of obscurity and poor playing opportunities.) On this, his first album done exclusively for Muse (reissued by 32 Jazz), Sonny is in top form doing what he loves to do best: WAIL! Sometimes he goes at it a bit too aggressively and the up-tempo flagwavers (12!, THE NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES, and EVERY TUB) are taken a bit TOO fast: lots of notes but meaning and nuance go out the window. You've got to admire all that technique, though. The slow numbers are a relief, but because the up-tempo sides are so fast, these slow sides (I GOT IT BAD and BLUES AT THIS TEMPO) come across as being done too slowly; the blues tune, often Sonny's forte, almost goes dead in the water. The very best track on the CD, therefore, for me is the medium-tempo OUR DELIGHT, which is done just right. Barry Harris (p) Sam Jones (b) and Louis Hayes (d) are impeccable in their supporting (and solo) roles. This is a very fine Sonny Stitt CD.
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