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Sonny
Stitt
Posted April 21, 2004
The
Complete Roost Sonny Stitt Studio Sessions
Mosaic
Records MD9-208
By Al Perlman
I am an unabashed fan of Mosaic
records. No company does a better job mining and repackaging the treasures of
recorded jazz. From Mosaic’s beginnings in 1983 the company has focused on
producing comprehensive boxed sets that document periods or styles of music from
either specific artists or record labels. From the comprehensive liner
notes to the annotated discographies to the intricate remastering of the
original recordings, each set is a gem.
What I also appreciate as a Jazz
Collector is that the Mosaic releases have always represented a great
investment: The company produces limited editions of all its releases (with one
or two exceptions) and once the designated number of copies are sold, that’s
it, no more are released. This has created a strong resellers market for Mosaic
sets, particularly those that are no longer in print. If you peruse eBay
you’ll see that almost every out-of-print Mosaic set sells for a fairly strong
premium over its original purchase price. My only complaint with Mosaic is they
stopped issuing their sets on vinyl a couple of years ago. For new sets, such as
this one, only CD formats are available.
I was particularly enthused when I
heard that Mosaic was releasing this set of recordings by Sonny Stitt, one of my
all-time favorite musicians. Stitt was a master of both the tenor and alto
saxophones who never seemed to get his due for a variety of reasons: He was
unfairly dismissed on alto as merely a mimic of Charlie Parker; he recorded
prolifically, sometimes not always at his best or most inspired; he was not
viewed as a pioneer or creator of a specific style in the manner of a Sonny
Rollins, John Coltrane or even a Cannonball Adderley. Still, he was a brilliant
musician whose technique, tone and musicality were equal to anyone who has ever
played jazz.
This 9-CD set provides ample evidence
of Stitt’s brilliance. It covers the period from 1952 to 1965 and shows off
Stitt’s talents in a variety of formats: From large ensembles let by Quincy
Jones and Johnny Richards to an all-Latin set to a series of small group
recordings that are among the best that Stitt produced in his life. My
personal favorites are the series of quartet recordings released in the late
1950s under the original titles “37 Minutes + 48 Seconds with Sonny Stitt”
and “Sonny Stitt With The New Yorkers.” When you listen to these recordings
you wonder how anyone could fail to recognize Stitt’s incredible prowess.
What’s most surprising about the
boxed set is not Stitt’s strength on these particular albums, but the overall
quality of the full 13-year period covered by the set. I had expected some
performances to be lacking inspiration, but that is not really the case here.
From the first session with Johnny Richards to the last quartet recording in
1965, the level of playing and strength of material remain strong throughout.
As I’ve come to expect with Mosaic,
the packaging is outstanding. Zan Stewart does a fine job on the liner notes,
talking about some of the reasons for Stitt’s lack of wider recognition –
focusing particularly on the comparisons with Bird – and giving detailed notes
on each of the recordings. In addition, there’s a brief history of Roost
records and its co-founder Teddy Reig. The recordings themselves have been
beautifully remastered by Malcom Addey and the sound compares favorably to that
which you’ll find on the original LP releases. In addition to the material
originally released on LPs, there are 15 tracks that have never been released in
any format.
All in all, this is a great set. I
highly recommend it to any Stitt fan, even if you have all the records in their
original LP format. For Jazz Collectors in general it’s hard to go wrong with
any Mosaic set, in terms of the music, the history and the potential investment.
Now, if Mosaic can get its hands on Stitt’s catalogue from Verve, that would
be another treat indeed.
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