Sonny stitt biography book
Sonny Stitt: His Life and Music Sonny Stitt was one of the most influential saxophonists in jazz..
Edward “Sonny” Stitt was born into a musical family on February 2, 1924.
Out of 5 stars.
His father was a professor of music, his mother a piano teacher, his brother a concert pianist, and his sister a singer. He began on piano, took up clarinet and alto sax, and later switched to tenor to avoid comparison with Charlie Parker.
“On tenor,” says Dan Morgenstern in his book Living with Jazz: A Reader, ”Stitt had few peers. He takes his cues from Lester Young, but there’s not a trace of cloning.
This folio features 14 authentic transcriptions, including: After Hours * Body and Soul * Constellation * On the Sunny Side of the Street * Ray&#;s Idea *.On this axe, he is indisputably his own man.”
Stitt was a virtuoso on the horn and relished competition on the bandstand. In his book Rhythm-a-ning: Jazz Tradition and Innovation in the 80’s Gary Giddins says, “Stitt had the qualities essential to a tenor battler; he was implacable, indefatigable, inventive.”
Still playing alto, Stitt joined Billy Eckstine’s band in 1945, recorded with the early boppers, and played in Dizzy Gillespie’s sextet and big band in 1946.
By 1949 he took up tenor sax (as well a
