- I knew Sonny Stitt.
To me...Stitt was one of the masters. Kinda like the Marcel Mule of jazz. ( IMHO ) He knew things and COULD PLAY THEM that I never heard others approach. I always marveled at. When he left us...he left with some secrets of the saxophone. Ever watch him use the distance of the saxophone and the microphone? Like mic placement to HIS advantage. JAZZ...Needs more gate keepers like Stitt and Lockjaw Davis.
I'm saying this cuz I knew Sonny , and was around him a lot. Stitt was a task master. There were a few questions
he'd throw at you. Stuff like " How many keys on the saxophone?" Or " what's a whole note? ".....A friend of mine in
Chicago in the 70's told me this stuff. So he starts with me...and said " What's a whole note? " So I answered
him with HIS ANSWER..." It's a circle." Then he said " So you know what a half-note is?" I said a circle with a stem.:mrgreen:
He'd ask you harmony questions...like to really test ya. Things like- " Whats the chord in the 2ed bar of the bridge to Body & Soul ? "
This man..._meant_ business big time. There was no IF OR MAYBE with Stitt.
The first time I heard him was in my hometown, I was in high school. He was doing one of those Varitone clinics for Selmer. It was amazing.
Hearing a guy at that level in 9th grade and 3 feet from your heard. After the clinic he asks if anyone wants to play. I wasn't to sure if it was the time and place for this. But the guy who had the store knew me- and Sonny said come on. So he kicks off a blues in a medium tempo. And tears the stuff up. Hearing him kill it like that, a foot away at that age was THE lesson of life. NOT...in a book and sure as hell not in a University agenda. LOL. Reality 101. At the end of the tune he was cool and shook my hand-heck I was a kid. So in the talking and trying the Varitone I remarked about a mouthpiece he had. He said it was a Brillhardt Level Air hard rubber. Then he said- " Would you like one." He caught me off guard, so in my heasitation he gets a mouthpiece and said try this. It felt tight so he said ok Tim, try this. BOOM...It was great.
So I look at the facing number and said " Oh this is a 7 so it played easier." SONNY LOOKS AT ME...and said " When something is good for you, then you play it." So he said - " Here hope you like it." That mouthpiece I played way into my 2ed year at Berklee.
Years later I ran into him at ART-SHELL in NYC. A great repair spot that Artie Pincus had.
Of course he didn't remember me. No biggie. In talking he sais- stop by the " Village Gate" and play a tune with me.
So I go by- tell the guy on the door that Sonny told me to come by. I had my tenor. ( Ray Hyman pak too. Remember them? )
The guy was being a drag to me, So Sonny caught mre trying to come in and comes over and tears the guy a new one a inch from his face.
That night I got to sit in with Stitt and Bu Pleasants on organ. Later Harold Vick comes by and I met him. It was a nice scene. Vick was on fire. Sonny let me come back as well to play, I was cool about it. But in1973, I just grad from school, and this was something that kept my mojo up and kept me shedding. I was living in the Bronx, alone and this wa way before the net' and to network was hard and money was low. Stitt gave me the confidence to keep on. Another thing I noticed about him- was he was strict. He told me to know the words to the tunes.
Years later in the Maryland Hotel on Rush in Chicago he was on the same floor with me. We'd hang and watch Westerns < Stitt had a camel color top coat...and wore a cowboy hat match it ! > on TV in the afternoon. He told me this scene that Victure Mature was in, about how Victure was going to handle it. LOL. I'd go to the deli across the street and get the soup of the day for him. He was always cool- he'd give me the cash and I'd give him change. He spoke a LOT about knowing basic and was NOT a teacher in a way of today that everyone is teaching something, but let's face it. HE WAS A MAJOR JAZZ STAR.
Face it- his life was SONNY STITT. Jazz artist.
The great drummer - Billy James- played with Stitt over 10 years...Billy told me a great story....Stitt when he first hired Billy
thought Billy was -over playing- !! So, Stitt tells Billy look here - DON' T USE YOUR LEFT HAND , SIT ON YOUR LEFT HAND . Billy
was as a young guy freaked out by this...but knew Stitt had a agenda so he did it. Two weeks later .....Stitt sais...ok use both
hands again....Billy told me the difference was like night and day. The ability Billy had to hear ideas as he heard space AND time
was one of the aspects Stitt was after. As I said many times. Stitt made me learn the lyrics to tunes...and if he knew you well
he would ask ya right at the bar to tell him !! Stitt was a text book .
Another thing Stitt used to kick my butt on was to get back to using a rubber mouthpiece...at that time ( mid 70's ) he had
a mouthpiece by Guy Hawkins...in rubber. Wolf Tayne made them. He seemed to feel articulation, ease of playing on the chops was better.
Jazz will never see another player of this magnitude ever. I'm glad I had the honor of knowing him.
- I knew Sonny Stitt.
To me...Stitt was one of the masters. Kinda like the Marcel Mule of jazz. ( IMHO ) He knew things and COULD PLAY THEM that I never heard others approach. I always marveled at. When he left us...he left with some secrets of the saxophone. Ever watch him use the distance of the saxophone and the microphone? Like mic placement to HIS advantage.
I'm saying this cuz I knew Sonny , and was around him a lot. Stitt was a task master. There were a few questions
he'd throw at you. Stuff like " How many keys on the saxophone?" Or " what's a whole note? ".....A friend of mine in
Chicago in the 70's told me this stuff. So he starts with me...and said " What's a whole note? " So I answered
him with HIS ANSWER..." It's a circle." Then he said " So you know what a half-note is?" I said a circle with a stem.
He'd ask you harmony questions...like to really test ya. Things like- " Whats the chord in the 2ed bar of the bridge to Body & Soul ? "
This man..._meant_ business big time. There was no IF OR MAYBE with Stitt.
The first time I heard him was in my hometown, I was in high school. He was doing one of those Varitone clinics for Selmer. It was amazing.
Hearing a guy at that level in 9th grade and 3 feet from your heard. After the clinic he asks if anyone wants to play. I wasn't to sure if it was the time and place for this. But the guy who had the store knew me- and Sonny said come on. So he kicks off a blues in a medium tempo. And tears the stuff up. Hearing him kill it like that, a foot away at that age was THE lesson of life. NOT...in a book and sure as hell not in a University agenda. LOL. Reality 101. At the end of the tune he was cool and shook my hand-heck I was a kid. So in the talking and trying the Varitone I remarked about a mouthpiece he had. He said it was a Brillhardt Level Air hard rubber. Then he said- " Would you like one." He caught me off guard, so in my heasitation he gets a mouthpiece and said try this. It felt tight so he said ok Tim, try this. BOOM...It was great.
So I look at the facing number and said " Oh this is a 7 so it played easier." SONNY LOOKS AT ME...and said " When something is good for you, then you play it." So he said - " Here hope you like it." That mouthpiece I played way into my 2ed year at Berklee.
Years later I ran into him at ART-SHELL in NYC. A great repair spot that Artie Pincus had.
Of course he didn't remember me. No biggie. In talking he sais- stop by the " Village Gate" and play a tune with me.
So I go by- tell the guy on the door that Sonny told me to come by. I had my tenor. ( Ray Hyman pak too. Remember them? )
The guy was being a drag to me, So Sonny caught mre trying to come in and comes over and tears the guy a new one a inch from his face.
That night I got to sit in with Stitt and Bu Pleasants on organ. Later Harold Vick comes by and I met him. It was a nice scene. Vick was on fire. Sonny let me come back as well to play, I was cool about it. But in1973, I just grad from school, and this was something that kept my mojo up and kept me shedding. I was living in the Bronx, alone and this wa way before the net' and to network was hard and money was low. Stitt gave me the confidence to keep on. Another thing I noticed about him- was he was strict. He told me to know the words to the tunes.
Years later in the Maryland Hotel on Rush in Chicago he was on the same floor with me. We'd hang and watch Westerns < Stitt had a camel color top coat...and wore a cowboy hat match it ! > on TV in the afternoon. He told me this scene that Victure Mature was in, about how Victure was going to handle it. LOL. I'd go to the deli across the street and get the soup of the day for him. He was always cool- he'd give me the cash and I'd give him change. He spoke a LOT about knowing basic and was NOT a teacher in a way of today that everyone is teaching something, but let's face it. HE WAS A MAJOR JAZZ STAR.
Face it- his life was SONNY STITT. Jazz artist.
The great drummer - Billy James- played with Stitt over 10 years...Billy told me a great story....Stitt when he first hired Billy
thought Billy was -over playing- !! So, Stitt tells Billy look here - DON' T USE YOUR LEFT HAND , SIT ON YOUR LEFT HAND . Billy
was as a young guy freaked out by this...but knew Stitt had a agenda so he did it. Two weeks later .....Stitt sais...ok use both
hands again....Billy told me the difference was like night and day. The ability Billy had to hear ideas as he heard space AND time
was one of the aspects Stitt was after. As I said many times. Stitt made me learn the lyrics to tunes...and if he knew you well
he would ask ya right at the bar to tell him !! Stitt was a text book .
Another thing Stitt used to kick my butt on was to get back to using a rubber mouthpiece...at that time ( mid 70's ) he had
a mouthpiece by Guy Hawkins...in rubber. Wolf Tayne made them. He seemed to feel articulation, ease of playing on the chops was better.
Jazz will never see another player of this magnitude ever. I'm glad I had the honor of knowing him.
Stitt on bari ;