Sonny Stitt Quartet

THE SONNY SIDE OF STITT (4 LPS ON 2 CDS) FEAT. JIMMY JONES

 

Personnel:

Sonny Stitt (as, ts), Jimmy Jones (p), Aaron Bell (b), Charlie Persip, Roy Haynes (d)

 

Reference: FSRCD 640_2

 

Includes extensive booklet with recording details, notes and rare photos.

 

Sonny Stitt arrived on the New York City scene as an unmistakably Parker-inspired alto man. For over ten years, though, he earned a second identification as a driving and well-equipped tenor soloist who had other influences in his make-up, most notably Lester Young. And from the late Fifties until the early Sixties, while recording several quartet albums, Stitt was blowing as much alto and tenor as ever.

 

He would wander into a recording studio with a pickup rhythm section and just play, as he did on these four consecutive albums with pianist Jimmy Jones. Because he was a through-going professional, a nimble improviser, and because he played with amazing consistency, they convey the fine feeling of easy rapport between Stitt and his rhythm section.

 

He sails through a handful of standards and a few blues tunes with polished, swinging authority and an unparalleled, incendiary, gutsy drive. He had a simple credo. Dont play too fast, and dont play too long. Play three chorusesif you cant make it in three, man, you cant make it at all.

 

His credo is stamped all over these magnificent sessions.

 

 

Tracklisting:

 

CD 1

01. When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin Along) (Woods) 2:48

02. For All We Know (Lewis-Coots) 3:06

03. Im Confessin That I Love You (Daugherty-Reynolds-Neiberg) 3:19

04. Cocktails for Two (Johnston-Coslow) 3:38

05. Star Eyes (Raye-DePaul) 3:39

06. On a Slow Boat to China (Loesser) 3:21

07. Laura (Raskin-DePaul) 3:39

08. J.B. Blues (Stitt) 3:56

09. Dont Take Your Love from Me (Nemo) 2:55

10. After the Late, Late Show (Stitt) 3:56

11. Skylark (Carmichael-Mercer) 2:46

12. Dont Worry 'Bout Me (Bloom-Koehler) 2:50

13. Ill Remember April (Raye-DePaul-Johnson) 3:42

14. Day by Day (Kahn-Stordahl-Weston) 3:29

15. Red Top (Kynard-Hampton) 3:50

16. Moonray (Shaw-Madison-Quinser) 2:57

17. Old Fashioned Blues (Stitt) 4:42

18. I Never Knew (Carroll) 4:26

19. Hitsburg (Stitt) 4:22

20. Angel Eyes (Dennis-Brent) 3:08

21. It All Depends on You (DeSylva-Brown-Henderson) 2:47

 

Total time: 74:00 min. aprox.

 

CD 2

01. Stormy Thursday (Stitt) 3:22

02. Embraceable You (Gershwin-Gershwin) 2:35

03. It Could Happen to You (Burke-Van Heusen) 3:23

04. But Not for Me (Gershwin-Gershwin) 3:07

05. Memories of You (Blake-Razaf) 5:09

06. I Cried for You (Now It's Your Turn to Cry Over Me) (Arnhein-Lyman-Freed) 3:15

07. Bright as Snow (Stitt) 2:44

08. Spinning (Stitt) 2:26

09. Sonny Side Up (Stitt) 2:31

10. On Green Dolphin Street (Kaper-Washington) 3:53

11. The More I See You (Warren-Gordon) 3:38

12. Dont Take Your Love from Me (Nemo) 4:41

13. My Blue Heaven (Donaldson-Whiting) 2:37

14. My Mothers Eyes (Baer-Gilbert) 3:44

15. When I Grow Too Old to Dream (S.Romberg-O.Hammerstein) 3:00

16. Bye Bye Blues (Lown-Gray-Bennett-Hamm) 5:00

17. Ive Got the World on a String (Arlen-Koehler) 5:07

18. Beware Rocks Comin Down (Stitt) 6:52 (*) Bonus Track

19. Six-O-Seven Blue (Stitt) 6:07 (*) Bonus Track

 

Total time: 74:00 min. aprox.

 

 

Sources CD 1:

Tracks #1-10, originally issued on the 12" LP "A Little Bit of Stitt" (Roost SLP 2235)

Tracks #11-19, originally issued on the 12" LP "The Sonny Side of Stitt" (Roost SLP 2240)

Tracks #20-21, originally issued on the 12" LP "Stittsville" (Roost SLP 2244)

 

Sources CD 2:

Tracks #1-8, originally issued on the 12" LP "Stittsville" (Roost SLP 2244)

Tracks #9-17, originally issued on the 12" LP "Sonny Side Up" (Roost SLP 2245)

Tracks #18-19, taken from the 12" LP "Stitt in Orbit" (Roost SLP 2252)

 

Personnel:

Sonny Stitt (as, ts), Jimmy Jones (p), Aaron Bell (b on CD1 #1-10 & CD2 #9-19), uncredited bass & drums players on CD1 #11-21 & CD2 #1-8, Charlie Persip (d on CD1 #1-10), Roy Haynes (d on CD1 #11-21 & CD2).

 

All sessions recorded in New York City.

 

CD 1, tracks #1-10 Nola Studios, April 10, 1959

CD 1, tracks #11-19 recorded on September 21, 1959

CD 1, tracks #20-21 & CD 2, tracks #1-8 same location

as #11-19, but recorded on June or July, 1960

 

CD 2, tracks #9-19 recorded at Bell Sound Studios, on August 8, 1960

 

 

Original recordings produced by Teddy Reig

 

Reissue produced by Jordi Pujol and "Beethoven" Jean-Michel Reisser

 

 

Stereo · 24-Bit Digitally Remastered