Artist: Sonny Stitt

Sonny Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording more than 100 albums.

In 1943, Stitt met Charlie Parker. As he often recalled, the two men had similar styles. Parker is alleged to have remarked, "Well, I'll be damned, you sound just like me", to which Stitt responded, "Well, I can't help the way I sound. It's the only way I know how to play." Kenny Clarke said of Stitt, "Even if there had not been a Bird, there would have been a Sonny Stitt." 

During the 1940s, he played alto saxophone as a member of Tiny Bradshaw's big band, Billy Eckstine's big band with Gene Ammons and Dexter Gordon, and Dizzy Gillespie's big band. Stitt was a leader of Bebop Boys and Galaxy in 1946 and 1948 respectively. 

When playing tenor saxophone Stitt seemed to break free from some of the criticism that he was imitating Parker's style, and began to develop a far more distinctive sound. He played with other bop musicians including Horace Parlan, Bud Powell and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, a fellow tenor with a distinctly tough tone in comparison to Stitt, in the 1950s and recorded a number of sides for Prestige Records as well as albums for Argo, Verve, and Roost.

Stitt experimented with Afro-Cuban jazz in the late 1950s, and the results can be heard on his recordings for Roost and Verve, on which he teamed up with  Thad Jones and  Chick Corea for Latin versions of such standards as "Autumn Leaves". 

In 1952 Stitt played with pianist Jimmy Jones, and the next year performed orchestral music with Johnny Richards. Under Quincy Jones's guidance in 1955, he played  uptempos and ballads such as "My Funny Valentine" and "Star Dust" and the same year performed "Afterwards" and "There Will Never Be Another You" with Hank Jones. Stitt joined Dolo Coker in 1957 to perform "Blues for Yard" and "Blue Moon" before returning to Hank to perform "Cherokee". 

Stitt joined Miles Davis briefly in 1960, and recordings with Davis' quintet can be found only in live settings on the tour of 1960. Concerts in Manchester and Paris are available commercially and also a number of concerts (which include sets by the earlier quintet with John Coltrane) on the record Live at Stockholm (Dragon), all of which featured  Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cobb, and Paul Chambers.

Stitt recorded several times with his friend Gene Ammons. The records recorded by these two saxophonists are regarded by many as some of both Ammons and Stitt's best work. The Ammons/Stitt partnership went down in posterity as one of the best dueling partnerships in jazz, alongside Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, and Johnny Griffin with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis.