Track Selection 1. (fast): Blue Smile (Stitt)
Selection 2: (ballad, less fast): Lazy Bones (Mercer Carmichael)
Artists
Sonny Stitt (ts) Lou Levy (p) Leroy Vinnegar (b) Mel Lewis (d) recorded 1960
Music
Sonny not to be outdone, first there was Saxophone Colossus, then Tenor Madness, now it’s Saxophone Supremacy.
Girlie on Cover alert! Oh General Stitt, is that a saxophone in your pocket or …? Yes,a tenor,actually Oh. Oh well. Play on…
Stitt plays like he has six, possibly seven fingers where others make do with five. Though he recorded prolifically, 1960 catches him before his “Soul Man” period, very much his own man. Critics still had the problem what to write about Stitt without referring to “the Parker controversy”. I have no problem with it, they both play great. Excellence can be a philosophical blind alley. If Parker was the best ever, would you never listen to any other player? Would Da Vinci stop at the Mona Lisa? There, I have painted my best, time to hang up the brushes. It’s all good, enjoy it all.
To fall back on a standard reviewers line: “Anone who likes Sonny Stitt are likely to find this record enjoyable”. Include me in that group.Others should concentrate on that great cover. It’s better than any I have found on a Bird.
Fashion Footnote: the model’s burnt caramel-coloured sloppy jumper, with bobling a feature. Its a long time since I saw this colour on anything other than a creme caramel. And au naturel, no piercings, nose-studs or disfiguring tattoos: a girl you could take home to meet mother.
Vinyl: UK HMV CSD 1348 Verve Series, stereo.
Pressing by EMI, of Hayes Middlesex. Not quite the high standard of Decca engineering but no slouch.
EMI matrix
Liner notes by British jazz critic Benny Green, (no relation)
Collectors Corner
Source: eBay Sellers Grading: vinyl: VG+ ” a faint tic in a few places”, Cover condition VG (LJC says: artwork Excellent!!)
Not especially sought after, no sly eBay tactics required, just one other bidder hoping to pick up a bargain for a few pounds, which is where it ended up. You can’t just buy Mobley 1568 every day. Seemed a shame to pass a nice Stitt record by, for a fairly nominal sum, so I didn’t.
Fantasy moment; I’m sure I’ve seen a Sonny album cover with pretty model, titled “Stitt’s Out!”….
That would be on the “Sun” label – get your Stitts out for the Lads?
Did anyone notice that the photo of Sonny Stitt on the back cover of the album featured here today is the same as the one on the front cover of the Verve album Sonny Side Up? Click
No I hadn’t, well done Lieutenant Matty. Check your gun and badge at the front desk, oh, and the squad car keys – you won’t be needing those any more. I am promoting you to Chief of Forensics. Your new office is in the Lab, next to the morgue, in the Basement. Congratulations.
Ta very much, boss. I’ll miss the squad car though. Nothing beats a car chase with the sirens blaring
I forgot to mention, forensics earn double frontline salary. Now you can afford to get your lady the mink coat she’s been wanting. Treat yourself to a romantic holiday for two in Hawaii – you could even take the wife, if you preferred.
Yup I like Stitt but has never started collecting him. Pick up his CD or LP at random
Just started picking up a few Stitt discs (on CD the heretic that I am). Staggering that this was picked up for so little. That label is a work of art.
LJC,
It’s a terrible shame people neglected Stitt for so long. The neglect seems to be continuing in favor nowadays of the younger generation of saxmen, most of whom could not hold a c flat with the man who may have been the most-recorded jazzman ever.
Keep up the great work, my friend.