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Sonny Stitt Blows The Blues | By Eddie Carter
It happened like this; after listening to Bud Powell ’57, I wanted something else to hear while reading. So, I chose another of my mom’s favorite albums that she loved playing while cooking dinner. Sonny Stitt Blows The Blues (Verve Records MG V-8374/MG V6-8374) is an excellent 1960 date culled from two 1959 December sessions. Sonny Stitt was equally fluent on the tenor and baritone sax but is exclusively heard here on the alto sax. He assembled an exceptional rhythm section to join him, Lou Levy on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass, and Mel Lewis on drums. My copy is the 1995 Classic Records US Stereo audiophile reissue (Verve Records MG VS-6149).
The opener, Blue Devil Blues, is the first of five tunes by Mr. Stitt. It starts with Mel’s brief introduction; next, Sonny emerges to establish the easygoing melody, then gives an exquisite opening statement. Lou follows with a few flowing lines, and Leroy punctuates the solos with a brief comment. Home Free Blues picks up the pace to a medium beat for Stitt’s alto to lead the quartet in the melody of this happy swinger. He continues laying down strong lines in the first solo that pack a lot of punch. Levy delivers a splendid statement next, then Vinnegar takes a soulful walk ahead of the reprise and ending.
Blue Prelude is a pretty song by Isham Jones that Lou sets in motion with a concise introduction segueing into Sonny’s lightly swinging opening chorus and the song’s only interpretation. The rhythm section lays a lush foundation behind him into the song’s exit. Frankie and Johnny is the story of a couple’s relationship that ends tragically because of the young man’s infidelity. The quartet brings out the best in this old chestnut, with Stitt stating the melody. He then gives an impressive lead solo. In the second statement, Levy gets to the song’s heart; then, Vinnegar has a delightfully light reading ahead of Stitt’s final thoughts.
Side Two starts with Birth of The Blues by Ray Henderson, Lew Brown, and Buddy DeSylva. The quartet opens the song with a mellow theme, then steps aside for Sonny to show off his impeccable chops in the opening statement. Lou is up next with a fine outing, then Leroy has a delightful reading before the climax. A Blues Offering is Sonny’s slow-tempo invitation for the group to relax and take it easy from the start of the melody. Stitt sets the scene thoughtfully and with care first, then Levy responds with tenderness and sincerity in the subsequent interpretation preceding the ensemble’s graceful finale.
Sonny Stitt’s Hymnal Blues is unlike any song I heard when I attended church as a youngster. The foursome starts with a vibrant opening chorus; then, Sonny takes flight and wails in the opening presentation. Lou matches the altoist in the following statement. Leroy wraps it up with a neat finale before the quartet’s closing chorus disappears into nothingness. Vinnegar’s bass introduces After Morning Blues, segueing into Stitt’s sultry theme. The saxophonist has the song’s only reading and turns in a sensuously warm interpretation closely shadowed by the rhythm section’s gorgeous groundwork into the culmination.
The initial producer and the recording engineer of Sonny Stitt Blows The Blues are unknown. However, the sound quality of this Classic Records reissue is fantastic. Bernie Grundman mastered the album, and the instruments emerge from your speakers as if the quartet is playing right before you. The record is pressed on 180 grams of audiophile vinyl and silent until the music starts. If you’re not already a fan of Sonny Stitt, this is an excellent choice to begin your journey into his extensive discography. Every time I hear it, I’m taken back to my childhood and a pleasant memory of my mom. Sonny Stitt Blows The Blues is an enjoyable album from first note to last with a superb supporting cast that highlights the leader’s capabilities as a composer. If you love jazz, I can’t recommend it enough for a spot in your library!
~ Birth of The Blues, Frankie and Johnny – Source: Wikipedia.org © 2023 by Edward Thomas Carter
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Skeets Herfut was born Arthur Relsmond Herfut on May 28, 1911 in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Denver, Colorado. While attending the University of Colorado he played in different bands. By 1934 he was performing with Smith Ballew, and through the decade with Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, and Ray Noble.
After moving to California, Herfut worked with Alvino Rey, then served in the Army from 1944 to 1945. After the war, he flourished as a studio musician in Hollywood, California and led his own band. Between 1946 and 1947 he performed with Benny Goodman and Earle Spencer.
Into the 1960s Skeets’ studio sessions were with Billy May, Louis Armstrong, Georgie Auld, Jack Teagarden, Stan Kenton and again with Goodman. By the end of the 1960s he joined the Ray Conniff orchestra for several tours of Japan and Germany as well as recording sessions during the 1970s.
Herfurt bacme a member of Lawrence Welk’s orchestra and weekly television show from 1979 to 1982, performing on lead alto saxophone. During his career he recorded with Glen Gray, Ray Anthony, Joe “Fingers” Carr, Frankie Carle, Larry Clinton, Bob Eberly, Helen O’Connell, The Four Freshmen, Bob Keene and Pete Rugolo.
Saxophonist and clarinetist Skeets Herfut, who appeared as a saxophonist in the 1956 film The Nightmare, playing clarinet on the soundtrack, and performed on the soundtrack to the 1974 film The Fortune, transitioned in New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of 80 on April 17, 1992.
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Kenny Dennis was born May 27, 1930 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began his musical career in the United States Army Band, playing drums in three bands from 1948-1952. After being discharged, he connected with junior high school mate, pianist Ray Bryant and became part of The Ray Bryant Trio along with Jimmy Rowser on bass. They became the house trio at the North Philadelphia Jazz Club, Blue Note where they played with Kai Winding, Chris Connor and Sonny Stitt among others.
Moving to New York City he worked with Miles Davis, Phineas Newborn, Jr., Billy Taylor, Erroll Garner, Charles Mingus, Johnny Griffin, Slide Hampton and Sonny Rollins. In 1957, Dennis performed in Sonny Rollins’s Trio with bassist Wendell Marshall at Carnegie Hall, a historic performance that was commemorated in 2007 with a 50th anniversary concert.
Dennis migrated to California, when Miles Davis recommended him to Lena Horne. There he recorded with Davis, Michel Legrand, Charlie Mingus, Gerald Wilson, poet Langston Hughes and Nancy Wilson, the latter he married and they had a son. He would also record with Oscar Brown Jr., Langston Hughes, Dodo Greene, Roy Ayers, Mal Waldron and Burt Bacharach.
Since 1997 drummer Kenny Dennis, who never recorded as a leader, has been an assistant director of the Lab Band at the award winning Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
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Gene DiNovi was born Eugene Salvatore DiNovi on May 26, 1928 in New York City. While in his teens he worked with Joe Marsala and Chuck Wayne and by the late Forties was very active live and on record. During this period he worked with Buddy DeFranco, Benny Goodman, Chubby Jackson, Brew Moore, Boyd Raeburn, Buddy Rich, Artie Shaw, Lester Young.
At the end of the decade and into the 1950s Gene worked extensively as an accompanist for vocalists, starting with Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett and Anita O’Day. He recorded with Lena Horne multiple times in the late 1950s and early 1960s and accompanied her on European tours. He also led his own small combos with sidemen including Danny Bank, Johnny Carisi, Bill Crow, Tony Fruscella, and Dave Schildkraut.
He began working more as a studio musician and film score composer in the 1960s. Toward the end of the decade he played with Carmen McRae, then moved to Canada to take a position as a house pianist with the CBC in Toronto. In the 1980s he worked with Ruby Braff and toured and recorded in Japan, and continued to be active as a performer into the 1990s, working with James Campbell, Don Thompson, Memo Acevedo, Dave Young, and Terry Clarke.
Pianist and composer Gene DiNovi, now 95, lives a quiet life.
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Marshall Belford Allen was born in Louisville, Kentucky on May 25, 1924. During World War II he enlisted in the 92nd Infantry Division and was stationed in France. He studied alto saxophone in Paris, France and played in Europe with Art Simmons and James Moody.
Best known for his mastery of explosive, jarring, chaotic sound effects on the alto saxophone, the opportunity came to create a long association with Sun Ra, with whom he performed almost exclusively from 1958 to Ra’s death in 1993. Marshall recorded with Paul Bley in 1964 and Olatunji during the mid-1960s.
Since Sun Ra death Allen has led the Arkestra and has recorded two albums. Allen often appeared in New York-area collaborations with bassist Henry Grimes, and participated in the Innerzone Orchestra with Francisco Mora Catlett, Carl Craig and others in an appreciation of Sun Ra’s music.
In 2022, the building at 5626 Morton Street known as the Arkestral Institute of Sun Ra was listed as a historic landmark in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. Free and avant-garde jazz alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, who also plays flute, oboe, piccolo, and EWI, at the age of 99 continues to live at the Institute, which has been his home since 1968.
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