S o n n y
• moon
• stars
• planets
• S
t i t t
By Michael Robinson
The
title really sums it up.
As Brahms was to Beethoven, so is Sonny Stitt to Charlie Parker, and we can take it further by saying that Gustav Mahler and John Coltrane interrelate, but lets stick to Stitt for now.
There
are other giants of the alto and tenor, of course, but no one excelled on both
alto and tenor like Stitt.
He
was a master of both horns, and his sound is like a perfectly ripe mango, every
swara filled with pure, sweet juice worthy of the gods and goddesses of India,
where mangos are the king of fruits, with hundreds of varieties manifesting
abundance, and multiplicity, elements that are synonymous with Sonny Stitt.
And the effect of listening to his sound, substance, and expression is as hypnotic
as one imagines participating in an ancient Vedic soma ritual would be.
Sonny is one of the divine musician-composers of all time. I say composer because his improvisations are, in fact, spontaneous compositions that improve and improve with repeated listenings.
No
one swings harder than Stitt, and no one plays with more passion, and precision.
If Parker
and Coltrane battled the invisible demons that inhabit the invisible space between
the physical and metaphysical worlds, which is the domain of music, than Stitt
is a prophet of the Age of Aquarius, where the peace and love envisioned by
Pharaoh Sanders reigns.
I will
not get into recommending specific recordings by Stitt, who was here between
1924 and 1982 because I have yet to hear anything captured on wax that is not
worthy of his magnificent legacy. That alone, if you consider that he recorded
something like one-hundred and fifty albums, is phenomenal.
All
improvising musicians, and all musicians who interpret composed music, and all
composers, will benefit from listening intently to this supreme artist who possesses,
and transcends the urban grit of New York City, and the rustic splendor of Kashmir
simultaneously.
One of the most sublime elements of his art is the casual, and unselfconscious manner in which he tosses off labyrinthine melodic and rhythmic inventions of momentous intellectual complexity, and subtlety, without a trace of effort.
So
enter Nirvana by listening to Sonny, and you will see what I mean.
Alto holds a special place in my heart, so that may be my favorite Stitt, but both his horns are equally glorious: Shiva and Shakti.
I
have not yet heard Sonny's recordings with an electric saxophone, but as a composer-performer
who uses a meruvina, I already admire his adventurous spirit for using it.
- Michael Robinson, November 2006, Los Angeles
© 2006 Michael Robinson All rights reserved
Michael Robinson has received international praise for compositions that combine computer instruments, Indian ragas, and a musical language inspired by American, South Asian, European, and other musicians and composers.