Stitts Bits-bebop 1949-52 (2006) (Remastered)

Product Summary UPC: 00888072300439 Release Date: 7/25/2006 Buy.com Sku: 202804281 Item#: M32NPJ Format:  CD Song Listing Disc 1 Song Title Sample 1. Afternoon In Paris - (take 1, with Jay Jay Johnson's Boppers) ~ Sonny Stitt 2. Afternoon In Paris - (take 2, with Jay Jay Johnson's Boppers) ~ Sonny Stitt 3. Elora - (take 1, with Jay Jay Johnson's Boppers) ~ Sonny Stitt 4. Elora - (take 2, with Jay Jay Johnson's Boppers) ~ Sonny Stitt 5. Teapot - (take 1, with Jay Jay Johnson's Boppers) ~ Sonny Stitt 6. Teapot - (take 2, with Jay Jay Johnson's Boppers) ~ Sonny Stitt 7. Blue Mode - (take 1, with Jay Jay Johnson's Boppers) ~ Sonny Stitt 8. Blue Mode - (take 2, with Jay Jay Johnson's Boppers) ~ Sonny Stitt 9. All God's Chillun Got Rhythm - (with Bud Powell Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 10. Sonny Side - (with Bud Powell Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 11. Bud's Blue - (with Bud Powell Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 12. Sunset - (with Bud Powell Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 13. Strike up the Band - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 14. Strike Up The Band - (alternate, with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 15. I Want to Be Happy - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 16. Taking a Chance on Love - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 17. Fine And Dandy - (take 1, with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 18. Fine And Dandy - (take 2, with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 19. Avalon - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 20. Later - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 21. Ain't Misbehavin' - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 22. Mean to Me - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 23. Stairway to the Stars - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 24. Bye Bye - (with Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 25. Let It Be - (with Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt Disc 2 Song Title Sample 1. Blues Up And Down - (take 1, with Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 2. Blues Up And Down - (take 2, with Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 3. Blues Up And Down - (take 3, with Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 4. You Can Depend On Me - (take 1, with Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 5. You Can Depend On Me - (take 2, with Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 6. Touch of Blues - (with Teddy Williams) ~ Sonny Stitt 7. Dumb Woman Blues - (with Teddy Williams) ~ Sonny Stitt 8. Chabottie - (with Teddy Williams) ~ Sonny Stitt 9. Who Threw the Sleeping Pills in Rip Van Winkle's Coffee - (with Teddy Williams) ~ Sonny Stitt 10. Gravy - (with Teddy Williams) ~ Sonny Stitt 11. Easy Glide - (with Teddy Williams) ~ Sonny Stitt 12. Count Every Star - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 13. Nice Work If You Can Get It - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 14. There Will Never Be Another You - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 15. Blazin' - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 16. Back in Your Own Back Yard - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 17. Sweet Jennie Lou - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 18. La Vie en Rose - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 19. Seven Eleven - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 20. To Think You've Chosen Me - (with Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 21. After You've Gone - (with Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 22. Our Very Own - (with Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 23. 'S Wonderful - (with Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 24. Stringin' the Jug - (with Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 25. Nevertheless (I'm in Love With You) - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt Disc 3 Song Title Sample 1. Jeepers Creepers - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 2. Imagination - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 3. Cherokee - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 4. 'Round About One A.M. - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 5. Jug - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 6. Wow - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 7. Blue and Sentimental - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 8. Liza - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 9. Can't We Be Friends - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 10. New Blues up and Down - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 11. Thrill of Your Kiss, The - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 12. If the Moon Turns Green - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 13. P.S. I Love You - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 14. This Can't Be Love - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 15. Down With It - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 16. For the Fat Man - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 17. Splinter - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 18. Confessin' - (with Sonny Stitt Quartet) ~ Sonny Stitt 19. Undecided - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 20. Until the Real Thing Comes Along - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 21. Because of Rain - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 22. Charmaine - (with Gene Ammons Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 23. Cool Mambo - (with Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 24. Sonny Sounds - (with Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 25. Blue Mambo - (with Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt 26. Stitt's It - (with Sonny Stitt Band) ~ Sonny Stitt (P) 2006 Concord Music Group, Inc. (C) 2006 Concord Music Group, Inc.   Album Notes and Credits Notes & Personnel Info Personnel: Sonny Stitt (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Teddy Williams, Larry Townsend (vocals); Joe Newman Quartet , Bill Massey (trumpet); Eli Dabney (trombone); John Richard Lewis, John Houston, Charles Bateman (piano); Wesley Landers (drums); Gene Ammons (vocals, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); John Hunt (trumpet); J.J. Johnson , Matthew Gee, Bennie Green (trombone); Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson, Duke Jordan, Junior Mance, Bud Powell (piano); Jo Jones , Max Roach, Art Blakey, Shadow Wilson, Teddy Stewart (drums); Humberto Morales (timbales); Charles Bateman, Eli Dabney, Wesley Landers, Chippy Outcalt, Larry Townsend, Earl May, Ernie Shepard, Gene Wright, Joe Newman , Johnny Houston, Kenny Drew, Teddy Williams, Tommy Potter, Nelson Boyd. Audio Remasterer: Joe Tarantino. Liner Note Author: Harvey Pekar. Recording information: New York, NY (10/17/1949-02/25/1952). Photographers: Ted Williams; Paul J. Hoeffler; Chuck Stewart. Occasionally undervalued because his alto playing strongly resembled Charlie Parker's, saxophonist Sonny Stitt was no bebop knock-off. There were many musicians tilling the same soil in the mid 1940s, and though Stitt (who also played tenor) wasn't as innovative as Parker, he was most assuredly a cutting-edge bop player in his own right. STITT'S BITS collects Sonny-led sessions from 1949 to 1952, as well as sessions with groups led by J.J. Johnson, Bud Powell, and a combo co-led with Gene Ammons. These, along with astute booklet notes by writer and AMERICAN SPLENDOR icon Harvey Pekar, make BITS an essential block of jazz history. The rap on Sonny Stitt is that he was little more than an imitator of Charlie Parker, without a firm identity of his own. However, from the evidence of these early Stitt recordings -- gathered together into a three-CD box -- the first part of the rap doesn't quite ring true, though the second remains an open question. Stitt may have shared an occasional rhetorical turn or blindingly fast run with Bird -- most tellingly on "S`Wonderful" -- but definitely not his entire style. You can hear plenty of Lester Young influences on the tracks where he plays tenor sax, and many of the ballads preview the soulful inflections that would flourish when he joined the soul-jazz movement in the '60s. Moreover, aware of the Bird backlash, Stitt recorded the majority of these tracks on the tenor, with occasional sessions on the baritone and finally, about two-thirds of the way through the set, on alto. What we don't hear at this point in his career is a truly individual voice; at times, when he and Gene Ammons are dueling on tenors, it's difficult to tell the difference between them upon casual listening. Not only are Stitt's own sessions included in this thorough survey, but also those where he was a co-leader with Ammons and Bud Powell, and a sometimes-non-soloing sideman for Ammons, J.J. Johnson, and the obscure Billy Eckstine-wannabe vocalist Teddy Williams. Above all, this box is a revealing look at the beginnings of the Prestige label just before Bob Weinstock learned how to exploit the potential of LP with open-ended blowing sessions. All of these tracks -- including those designated as Parts 1 and 2 -- were recorded to fit on a single side of a 10" 78 rpm record, as was still the custom of the time, and the neighborhood jukeboxes were definitely a target. Hence we hear Stitt not just as a high-minded -- if by necessity, heavily self-edited -- bebopper, but also as a participant in de facto period pop and R&B sessions. There are even some novelty numbers that tend to be ignored by history (how about a title like "Who Threw the Sleeping Pills in Rip Van Winkle's Coffee?" -- with group vocals!). Even deep in the bop era, jazz musicians still made gestures toward whatever happened to be selling to the masses, voluntarily or not. Although there are no unreleased tunes or outtakes, several tracks make their first CD appearances here, and three (including the notorious "Van Winkle") are being heard for the first time since the 78 era. ~ Richard S. Ginell Producer: Bob Weinstock   Compilation Appearances Complete Cole Porter Songbooks Vol. 2-1968-71 Tenor Sax Ballads Vol. 5-Priceless Jazz Sampler Vol. 2-Original Jazz Legends Ken Burns Jazz Ken Burns Jazz Jazz For The Quiet Times Jazz For A Lazy Day Great Live Jazz (Live) Jazz For A Night On The Town Jazz For Romantic Moments Most Romantic Jazz Music In The Universe More of the Most Relaxing Jazz Music in the Universe Most Relaxing Jazz Standards In The Universe Most Of The Most Romantic Jazz Music Jazz From When You're Not Alone Most Relaxing Jazz Piano Music In The Universe Basquiat's Journey Through Jazz Prestige Profiles Prestige Profiles Original Jazz Legends Series Vol 03 House That Trane Built: Story of Impulse Records Jazz Time:olympia Oct 11 1960 Ultimate Most Relaxing Jazz Music in Universe Simply Smooth Jazz Simply Jazz Jazz On A Summer Day Courage:atlantic Recordings(Limited Edition) Very Best Of Prestige (Prestige 60Th   Associated Artists and Works Boss Tenors: Straight Ahead From Chicago 1961 ~ Ammons, Gene We'll Be Together Again ~ Ammons, Gene Ammons, Gene God Bless Jug & Sonny ~ Ammons, Gene Boss Tenors in Orbit! [Deluxe Edition] ~ Ammons, Gene Left Bank Encores ~ Ammons, Gene Ammons, Gene Coltrane, John Davis, Miles Davis, Miles Jazz Time: Olympia Oct 11 1960 ~ Davis, Miles Getz, Stan Getz, Stan Getz, Stan Getz, Stan Gillespie, Dizzy Duets: Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt ~ Gillespie, Dizzy Sonny Side Up ~ Gillespie, Dizzy Gillespie, Dizzy Gillespie, Dizzy Green, Bunky Hank Jones (Hardcore) Jackson, Milt Jackson, Milt Jones, Hank Navarro, Fats Brothers-4 [Expanded] ~ Patterson, Don Powell, Bud Scott, Ronnie Scott, Ronnie (Jazz) Various Artists Various Artists   Technical Info Release Date : 07/25/2006 Original Release Date : 2006 Catalog ID : 30043 Label : Fantasy (distributor) Number of Discs : 3 Studio/Live : Studio Mono/Stereo : Stereo SPAR Code : n/a UPC : 00888072300439   Professional Reviews JazzTimes (p.107) - "Sonny Stitt played on a higher level than 99 percent of all jazz saxophonists who've ever lived....An essential, even fascinating, document."    Related Videos Randy Jackson: Randy Jack...