SONNY STITT 'BLOWS THE BLUES' AP, 2LP, 45RPM, 200G, LE, NE, SO, NEW/SEALED

$

140

                                                                       SONNY STITT 'BLOWS THE BLUES'
2013 ANALOGUE PRODUCTIONS "VERVE REISSUES", ORIGINAL RELEASE YEAR 1960, 2LP, 45RPM, 200G VIRGIN VINYL, LIMITED EDITION OF 1,000 NUMBERED COPIES, THIS IS #98 FROM THE SOLD-OUT EDITION, MASTERED AT STERLING SOUND BY GEORGE MARINO USING THE ORIGINAL ANALOG MASTER TAPES AND PRESSED AT QUALITY RECORD PRESSINGS, SALINA, KS. 
"SONNY STITT RECORDED IN AN IMPRESSIVE VARIETY OF CONTEXTS, RANGING FROM THE OCTET FORMAT FEATURED IN JIMMY GIUFFRE'S ARRANGEMENTS TO INFORMAL SESSIONS WITH SUCH SWING ERA PROTOTYPES AS ROY ELDREDGE, WITH WHOM HE WAS TEAMED FOR 'ONLY THE BLUE'.
"IT WAS IN THE LATTER SET THAT SONNY'S SUPERB FEELING FOR THE 12-BAR BLUES FORM CAME MOST CONSPICUOUSLY INTO FOCUS. ON THE PRESENT SIDES, SONNY AGAIN RVERTS TO THE BLUES, THIS TIME IN AN EVEN SIMPLER SETTING COMPOSED OF 3 MUSICIANS WHO, LIKE SONNY, ARE ESSENTIALLY PRODUCTS OF THE MODERN JAZZ SCENE, BUT HAVE FIRM ROOTS IN THE JAZZ TRADITION OF WHICH THE BLUES HAS REMAINED A PERPETUAL, UNQUENCHABLE GUIDING LIGHT."
"SONNY PLAYS ALTO ON ALL TRACKS. FIVE OF THE EIGHT NUMBERS ARE AD LIB BLUES WITH A NOMINAL THEMATIC FRAMEWORK TO OPEN AND CLOSE; THE OTHERS ARE ISHAM JONES' BLUE PRELUDE, WHICH SOMEBODY SUGGESTED ON THE DATE--SONNY HAD NEVER PLAYED IT BEFORE; FRANKIE AND JOHNNY, PROBABLY THE OLDEST BLUES THEME NOW IN GENERAL USE (IT ORIGINATED IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY), AND THE OLD POP SONG BIRTH OF THE BLUES. HIGHLIGHTS AMONG THE ORIGINALS ARE HOME FREE, A MINOR KEY BLUES, AND HYMNAL, A "SANCTIFIED" BLUES BASED ON AN OLD HYMN. SONNY IS ALSO AT HIS EARTHIEST AND MOST MOVING IN THE VERY SLOW BLUES IN G, MORNING AFTER, THAT CLOSES THE SET."
"SONNY STITT LED A NUMBER OF EXCELLENT RECORD DATES IN 1959, ESPECIALLY AT THE END OF THE YEAR WHEN HE PRODUCED THREE LP'S FOR VERVE OVER A SPAN OF THREE SESSIONS WITH PIANIST LOU LEVY, BASSIST LEROY VINNEGAR AND DRUMMER MEL LEWIS. PLAYING ALTO SAX THROUGHOUT THIS ALBUM, STITT HARDLY SOUNDS LIKE A CHARLIE PARKER CLONE, SOMETHING THAT UNFORTUNATELY WAS A FREQUENT CLAIM BY TIN-EARED CRITICS THROUGHOUT A FAIR PORTION OF HIS CAREER. THE MUSIC INCLUDES SEVERAL POTENT ORIGINALS, ESPECIALLY "HYMNAL BLUES" AND THE SLOW "MORNING AFTER BLUES".