Underrated player: Sonny Criss
Helge Gundersen
(1927-1978). The other day, I read a hopeless review of his "Out of
Nowhere" (available on Muse). The reviewer said that Criss played with
commitment, but he never got to develop his own style. Don't these people
use their ears and brains? This record, and others Criss made in the 60's
and 70's, capture is very individual style. He had his own phrasing and
his own tone, even if he came from Charlie Parker. Happily, this is
exactly what they say in a Danish jazz encyclopedia I own, so some
recognition he has got. Criss had a soulful, blues-drenched, jumpy way of
playing, at the same time he gives you an extremely sincere and heartfelt
impression.
Check him out, if you haven't already! He was at his best in later years,
pity he didn't stand life anymore. Sonny Stitt was also accused of copying
Bird, but he finally got his due recognition. Time for Sonny Criss!
------------------
Helge Gundersen (Oslo, Norway)
helge.g...@inl.uio.no
Derek Milner
>
> Now here's an underrated jazz player: the alto saxophonist Sonny Criss
> (1927-1978).
Here is a funny story from Hampton Hawes Autobiography "Raise Up Off Me"
about Sonny:
(the day after the Watts Rebellion)
"Next day I called Sonny Criss who lived at 103rd and Central, in the
heart of it, and asked him what happened. He said, "I took a fifth
of whiskey out to my lawn, sat down and started drinking and laughing.
Felt like Nero. Wanted to get out my horn and blow. When I finished
the bottle it was dawn, everything was down to the ground and smoking
like when you were a kid watching the mist come off a lake."
I highly recommend this book to everyone. I know it is out of print
now. I found my copy at a "friends of the library" sale.
Mark Ladenson
statement about not developing his own style. He's instantly recognizable
in a blindfold test, that incredible cascade of notes. Do you know his
Prestige album _Up Up and Away_ (probably not currently available)?
What may still be currently available
is a 1990 CD reissue of a 1952 club date: _Inglewood Jam, Bird & Chet_.
Bird was on the west coast and sat in with a young Chet Baker and Sonny.
Bird takes over on the second track, "Irresistible You," but on the first
track, "The Squirrel," Sonny does most of the blowing. (Chet is pretty weak
throughout).
Mark Ladenson
lade...@pilot.msu.e
Laurie Sonnenfeld
used stores is the twofer THE BOPMASTERS on MCA/Impulse 2-4141, part
of The Dedication Series. The Sonny Criss (with Ola Hansen (tb),
Wynton Kelly, Bob Cranshaw & Walter Perkins) was originally on
Peacock Records. A real bonus is the second LP with a date from
Kinny Dorham, J. R. Monterose, Dick Katz, Sam Jones & Arthur Edgehill
from 1956, originally on ABC-Paramount.
The Jazz at the Phil LP on Pablo w/Sonny is also quite good, can't
remember its name - circa 1949 or 50.
Jim Andrews c/o lau...@teleport.com
--
lau...@teleport.COM Public Access User --- Not affiliated with TECHbooks
Public Access UNIX and Internet at (503) 220-1016 (2400-14400, N81)
lades
Tapes only discovered and issued in the late '80s.
Mark Ladenson
lade...@pilot.msu.e
Chandrasekhar Ramakrishnan
Steve Robinson <stev...@u.washington.edu> wrote:
> If you're unfamiliar with Sonny Fortune, do yourself a favor and
>check him out.
Yes, definately! Like everyone else on the albums, he absolutely
*smokes* on Pangea and Agartha. What other albums of his are good?
-sekhar
Steve Robinson
playing, but hearing his name reminds me of another highly underrated
saxophonist: Sonny Fortune. (I guess if you want to have your son grow
up to be a great sax player, just call him Sonny!)
I've heard Sonny Fortune with 3 different groups in person: Abdullah
Ibrahim and Ekaya, the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, and the Nat Adderley
Quintet (much before Vincent Herring started playing with Nat), and I've
never failed to be knocked out by him. He took a lot of flack in the
late 70s for some of his supposedly "pop oriented" album releases, but
even these are refreshingly musical compared to a lot of "commercial"
recordings. In fact, one time when he was here with Nat Adderley, I got
into a discussion with him on this point. His particular brand of
"fusion" was much to my liking, because it was largely bop changes over
funk rhythms, but I still prefer to hear him play with a more
straight-ahead rhythm section.
If you're unfamiliar with Sonny Fortune, do yourself a favor and
check him out.
Steve Robinson
Seattle, WA
stev...@u.washington.edu
NorranRad
mike.ma...@24stex.com
>
>I would also recommend the Buddy Rich, 'Tuff Dude' albumn. Sonny's choruses
>on Nica's Dream are intense.
Pete
: Thanks to everyone for their posts on Sonny Criss. I, too, enjoyed his
: saxophonist: Sonny Fortune. (I guess if you want to have your son grow
Yeah ... Sonny! I caught him with Elvin a while ago and he knocked me
out. I don't know if he's that underrated though. I guess it depends on
who you ask. He's probably not making the big bucks but everybody I know
loves him.
Pete
Helge Gundersen
available (a most respectable topic), I can add an old Xanadu LP with
tracks from 1949-1965 (or so). It's still listed in the center sale
section of the Cadence magazine.
D.J. Toman
"Alto Memories," which was put out last year by Verve, but out of
Japan, I think. It's quintessential bop- and post-bop material with
a Ferrari of a rhythm section (K. Barron, Jack D., Buster W.).
Cadence lists it, but it wasn't considered an import here in Taiwan.
Sonny's recent solo album on Blue Note, "Four In One," is also great.
All Monk tunes done very imaginatively.
Both Sonny and Bartz are playing great into their fifties!
David in Taipei
Tom Brown
>> If you're unfamiliar with Sonny Fortune, do yourself a favor and
>>check him out.
>
> Yes, definately! Like everyone else on the albums, he absolutely
>*smokes* on Pangea and Agartha. What other albums of his are good?
He played with the Nat Adderley band a long time, but I only heard
them live, so I haven't any recs.
I have an album he cut in the mid-70s on the Label That Has No Name.
with Larry Willis, Marcus Miller, and others. It sounds like he was
attempting to sell out, but it's too good for him to have made any
money on it. If you like jazz with a backbeat, it's serious.
MediaSeven
He played with the Nat Adderley band a long time, but I only heard
them live, so I haven't any recs.
I have an album he cut in the mid-70s on the Label That Has No Name.
with Larry Willis, Marcus Miller, and others. It sounds like he was
attempting to sell out, but it's too good for him to have made any
money on it. If you like jazz with a backbeat, it's serious.
================================================================
Forget the sellout stuff. Sonny recorded some great sides for the now
defunct Horizon label from A&M, and an absolutely intense lp called Long
Before Our Mothers Cried for Strata East. I don't know if any of these are
available on CD (not mentioned in the Penguin guide) but some enterprising
record label should reissue them. They are everything all the young lions
are releasing now, and more. I also met Sonny a few times during various
gigs in NYC, and he was very sweet to me. I think he is very underrated.
Every gig I ever saw him at, he would play one solo in particular that was
so intense it made the room swim around in front of me. He's a master.
Gary Herrigel
_Sonny's Dream (Birth of the New Cool)"_ 1968 recording
is absolutely spectacular. It has Horace Tapscott
arrangements and a great west coast ensemble. I play
the thing all the time.
Does anyone know the story of Sonny Criss. I take it that
he committed suicide in the late 1970s but I have never
been able to find anything written on the guy's bioigraphy.
thanks in advance, gh
Gary Herrigel
Thanks alot for the info. I have heard portrasit of Sonny Criss (I
Own it) It is very nice, kind of smooth straigth ahead bebop. But
it is much less adventurious than the Birth of the New Cool. Sorry
about the headings, I am not sure how to delete things in my editor.
There was also a previous post in response to my post who asked whether
or not I had seen Tapscott in Chicago in 1993: NO! I wish I had, I was out
of town during the festival!
gh
In article <helge.gundersen-...@hfmac273.uio.no>,
Helge Gundersen <helge.g...@inl.uio.no> wrote:
>In article <D3wK2...@midway.uchicago.edu>, he...@cicero.spc.uchicago.edu
>(Gary Herrigel) wrote:
>
>> I will join the chorus on Sonny Criss. [..]
>> Does anyone know the story of Sonny Criss. I take it that
>> he committed suicide in the late 1970s but I have never
>> been able to find anything written on the guy's bioigraphy.
>
>Little is written (I guess), which is symptomatic. (You weren't very lucky
>with the subject line... For new readers we can inform that we now have
>two threads on Criss, and that he has certainly not anything to do with
>Sonny Fortune.)
>
>William "Sonny" Criss was born October 23, 1927 in Memphis and committed
>suicide November 19, 1978. One interviewed person said he had several
>problems, family problems and drinking problems, I think. When he died he
>had gotten a contract with Muse, so the artistic side of things was a
>little bit better than before, I guess. (Of course, jazz romanticists will
>want to believe that artistic neglect was his sole reason.)
>
>He came to L.A. in 1942, and in the late 40's he played with Billy
>Eckstine, Gerald Wilson, Wardell Gray, Howard McGhee, Dexter Gordon,
>Hampton Hawes, and others. He toured with Gene Norman's Just Jazz
>concerts, and JATP. Later he mainly played with his own group, in 1955
>with Stan Kenton's Jazz Showcase, and in 1958 with Buddy Rich. 1962-65 he
>lived in France, where he played with Kenny Clarke, Kenny Drew, and
>others. After that he had his own groups in L.A. again, but he was only
>sporadically active - e.g. with a nonet (where he also played the soprano)
>which made the record you mentioned on Prestige. 1973-74 he lived and
>toured in Europe, and in the 70's he also was a social worker in L.A. Some
>records from the 60's and 70's: This is Criss (Prestige, 1966), Portrait
>of Sonny Criss (Prestige, 1967), Crisscraft (1975 - I think it was first
>released on cassette on an obscure label, and later on LP on Muse),
>Saturday Morning (Xanadu, 1975), and Out of Nowhere (Muse, 1977, I think).
>Other records are mentioned in the other thread. (I actually have heard
>very little of this, shame to say.)
>
>Main source: _Politikens jazzleksikon_, Copenhagen 1987.
lades
>
>
>
> Thanks alot for the info. I have heard portrasit of Sonny Criss (I
> Own it) It is very nice, kind of smooth straigth ahead bebop. But
> it is much less adventurious than the Birth of the New Cool. Sorry
> about the headings, I am not sure how to delete things in my editor.
> There was also a previous post in response to my post who asked whether
> or not I had seen Tapscott in Chicago in 1993: NO! I wish I had, I was out
> of town during the festival!
>
>
> gh
>
Sonny's Dream in 1993.
Regarding Sonny's suicide, I checked the April 1994 _Cadence_ interview
with Teddy Edwards last night (one of their most informative interviews in
the 11.5 years I've been getting _Cadence_ IMHO). Teddy said he hated to
talk about Sonny's suicide. He said Sonny was down about a lot of things.
"The cancer was part of it but it wasn't the whole thing."
Mark Ladenson lade...@pilot.msu.edu
> In article <helge.gundersen-...@hfmac273.uio.no>,
> Helge Gundersen <helge.g...@inl.uio.no> wrote:
> >In article <D3wK2...@midway.uchicago.edu>, he...@cicero.spc.uchicago.edu
> >(Gary Herrigel) wrote:
> >
> >> Does anyone know the story of Sonny Criss. I take it that
> >> he committed suicide in the late 1970s but I have never
> >> been able to find anything written on the guy's bioigraphy.
> >
JOHN BARR (HSLC)
->> >records from the 60's and 70's: This is Criss (Prestige, 1966), Portrait
->> >of Sonny Criss (Prestige, 1967), Crisscraft (1975 - I think it was first
->> >released on cassette on an obscure label, and later on LP on Muse),
->> >Saturday Morning (Xanadu, 1975), and Out of Nowhere (Muse, 1977, I think).
->> >Other records are mentioned in the other thread. (I actually have heard
->> >very little of this, shame to say.)
->> >
->> >Main source: _Politikens jazzleksikon_, Copenhagen 1987.
->> >
->> >------------------
->> >Helge Gundersen (Oslo, Norway)
->> >helge.g...@inl.uio.no
->>
->>
->>
->>
Thank you for all the information.
Maybe I can return the favor.
Both Crisscraft and I'll Follow The Sun have been re-issued on CD.
I own most (but not all) the Criss that can still be had on LP or CD
and IMHO Crisscraft is top notch. More relaxed & bluesy than most (much like
Saturday Morning), it has a late-nite smoky-bar-room quality I miss
in the later stuff. Worth looking for if you like Sonny Criss.
Regards,
John Barr
Philadelphia, PA
Helge Gundersen
BARR (HSLC)) wrote:
> Both Crisscraft and I'll Follow The Sun have been re-issued on CD.
> I own most (but not all) the Criss that can still be had on LP or CD
> and IMHO Crisscraft is top notch. More relaxed & bluesy than most (much like
> Saturday Morning), it has a late-nite smoky-bar-room quality I miss
> in the later stuff. Worth looking for if you like Sonny Criss.
Thanks for the tip. On Saturday, I went to the library and lent "Sonny's
Dream" and "This is Criss!", which has been reissued in the OJC series.
They also had "Portrait of Sonny Criss" (I wasn't allowed to take with me
more than two CDs...). I have also seen reviews of other Criss CDs. It
seems that a lot of his output is available now.
"Sonny's Dream" is beautiful stuff, as several of you wrote. "This is
Criss!" is excellent, too. But as good as this quartet session is, I still
prefer "Out of Nowhere", recorded 1975. If any of you hasn't got this, I
urge you to go and get it. Less than 35 minutes, but not a moment wasted.
I reread Alan Bargebur's review in Cadence of the Xanadu LP I mentioned
earlier. He wrote that Criss' death was either suicide or accidental
(shotgun, I believe). And he comments that the liner writer takes it for
granted that it was suicide. But Teddy Edwards also takes this for granted
in the interview someone mentioned, and it seems to be the general view.
Gary Herrigel
Glad you enjoyed Sonny's Dream. _Portrait of Sonny Criss_ is also very fine.
Who or rather what is the label that published _Out of Nowhere_? Is
it out on CD?
gh
7
publuished "Out of Nowhere"?
