Prestige
2006
Stitt's Bits: The Bebop Recordings, 1949-1952
About This Album
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
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 and 18)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 and 18)

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Disc 3 (try tracks 1,2,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,13,15,16,17,18,19,20,21 and 22)

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