Customer Reviews

Kaleidoscope

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Ira Gitler's liner notes accurately describe Stitt as a triple threat for his use of alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone on this collection of sessions from the early fifties. Stitt is found in a variety of settings from three seperate quartets that feature among the personnel, Art Blakey and Kenny Drew, to a latin flavored septet. Stitt and Charlie Parker shared a nimble lyrical command over the alto, which Stitt dispalys beautifully here. He is a daring inventive soloist on uptempo numbers and has a light sensitive ballad tone. Sonny's tenor is on display for the latin flavored "Cool Mambo" and "Blue Mambo", and he displays playful baritone for "P.S. I Love You". The album closes with another septet featuring Gene Ammons on baritone and Larry Townsend's vocals for "To Think You've Chosen Me". This set features one of the cd's highlight when Stitt blows a mournful tenor solo on "Our Very Own". This is a wonderful introduction to the music of the legendary saxman Sonny Stitt and should delight long time fans who have not already discovered this gem.

Sonny Stitt recorded lot's and lot's of albums and did lot's and lot's of sides over a 30 year period...
To be honest, not all were great... though the "legend" of Sonny no doubt *is* unquestionable...
This album, however, if any is about the legend... The hard blowing, unstoppable Charlie Parker multi-reed protege who could handle mambo, ballads and whiskey drinking toe tappers as well...
Actually, its a compilation of sides recorded between 1950 and 1952, but as an overall package, I think its definitely a GREAT representation of what Stitt was his about.

Backed on many cuts by a fluid and up to par big band... Stitt drives effortlessly yet with an inspired edge through a wide variety of material...
Though his licks are very Parkerish, he also throws in those uniquely Stitt-istic pyrotechniques and other things that give the sound his own signature feel.
He also is great at about-faces... for example after 4 frenzic cookers (including a loud but swinging Latin Number), he's heard playing a really sweet but "sukebe" (sorry for the Japanese) version of Ain't Misbehaving - - laying back from the trademark meth-powered runs, Stitt goes for a sound that is so full, warm and tasty you can almost grab the notes from the air and eat them like taffy... - - Stitt's trademark "rich tone" appears in countless other tunes... though often he'll be warm and tasty one second than blow something mad the next, yet get back in control the next to say something very warm and breathy... classic Stitt...
Incidentally, Stitt can also be heard on Bari on some tunes... definitely not the horn he was most famous for - - but one which he was incredibly fluid on...
Most interesting though is the contrast between THIS CAN'T BE LOVE and IMAGINATION - - where on the first he's cooking on Bari, but on Imagination he's playing sweet and saucy on Alto... The mix definitely gives the compilation a way of drawing you further and further in as he tackles one classic standard after another in a way that make them sound anything but *standard*...
The same magic occurs when the ultra uptempo CHEROKEE is placed back to back with CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS, a sweet little toe tapper based on the changes of I COVER THE WATERFRONT.
And as an added surprise, there's even a crooner number which leaves you wondering what Stitt's gonna do when he comes in...
Another fascinating moment is a bonus track in which Stitt blows on After You've Gone... his solo is always melodic, but very agressive, in the pocket and hard cooking... a great toe tapper good for a bit of transcription activity for any serious student of the sax.

All in all, my advice... if you're just getting into Stitt, or trying to turn someone on... this is definitely the place to start...
and its aptly titled... a kaleidoscope into the sounds of a master !

In my opinion, Sonny Stitt deserves more recogntion for his incredible talents on three saxes. Although his baritone work is limited, he is always rhythmically robust and melodically charming on any horn. This CD offers tons of early tracks, several of which include large ensemble. The sound quality is lacking but the strength of the bebop prevails. Some of the tracks overlap with the Prestige First Sessions Vol 2 (highly recommended) but this is a keeper nevertheless.

I see that Amazon has 123 of the estimated 150 albums recorded by Sonny Stitt. This may be the only album demonstrating that, had Sonny put his mind to it (or rather had he hired a roadie to carry the extra case), he could have blown away practically any player on baritone sax as he could (and did) on alto and tenor. Apparently the unwillingness of the jazz pollsters to honor the music's most productive and prolific road warrior, not to mention the "most perfect" saxophonist of them all, stems from a combination of factors: 1. ignorance about the tunes comprising the American Songbook that Sonny mastered completely and consummately by the early 1950s; 2. an unwillingness to recognize the brilliance of his craftsmanship (if you didn't go into modal, fusion or free territory in this music, your legacy is as suspect as a liberal at a Tea Party Convention); 3. jealousy of his clear-cut superiority (while other players based their primary game on "soul" a la Turrentine, "cool sounds a la Desmond," "harsh sounds" a la McClean," "sermonizing" a la Cannonball, avant "harmelodics" and plastic saxophones a la Ornette, Sonny merely offered textbook examples of how to play logical, structured yet emotionally satisfying solos with an expressive, clear but fully embodied tone time after time). As for pyrotechnics, no one played faster or cleaner while yet remaining true to the must demanding musical values.

Sonny rejected all of the attempts to make him into another Bird--not only through his playing and multiple instruments--but verbally as well. He claimed Art Tatum as a primary influence, suggesting that Art was no revolutionay: "he entertained people." Thus, the paradox of Sonny Stitt. Art Tatum, recognized by anyone who understands the piano as the greatest pianist of all-time, was unable to unseat in the jazz polls contemporaries like Teddy Wilson, Nat Cole, Oscar Peterson, and Dave Brubeck. He was simply too far in front, without trying to be, to be accessible to the general public. I'm afraid much the same is true of Sonny Stitt.

It's time that Sonny be recognized for what he was: one of the 3-4 most vital musicians of the 20th century. (This album from circa 1950 betrays some of its earliness in terms of audio quality. I'll recommend another recording that few collectors, even, are familiar with: "Giants of Jazz," from 1973, under Dizzy Gillespie's name. It's a concert in London featuring Diz, Thelonious, Blakey and one player who steals the show, less than ten years before his death: Sonny Stitt (listen, especially, to "Everything Happens to Me." If you don't know the Matt Dennis tune, select an early or late Sinatra version first; then listen to what Sonny does with it).