Results for "Sonny Simmons"
About Sonny Simmons
Instrument: Saxophone, alto
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Sonny Simmons
Born:
Sonny Simmons made a number of striking albums in the 60's. Born in 1933, he was already a well-travelled Parkerian and a signaled innovator on the West Coast when he first came to national attention in 1963 with his debut recording "The Cry!" (with the Prince Lasha Quintet, on Contemporary), live appearances in NYC with Sonny Rollins, and sessions with Eric Dolphy (for whom he wrote the standard, "Music Matador") and Coltrane's rhythm section ("Illumination!", on Impulse). Though not a die-hard avant-gardist (like Ornette Coleman and Jimmy Lyons, other alto sax luminaries from the same generation, he sticks in his own provocative way to the tradition), he was then a leading figure of the Free Jazz scene in NYC with his wife Barbara Donald, cutting legendary records for ESP in 1966, "Staying On The Watch" and "Music From The Spheres"
Andrew Neil Hayes: Tenor Badness
by Chris May
Something big and wild and loud was stirring on the alternative British jazz scene around 2015, 2016. In London, high-voltage tenor sax and drums duo Binker and Moses made their debut album, as did jazz-rock power trio The Comet Is Coming. Meanwhile, in the west of the country, in the port city of Bristol, tenor saxophonist ...
Leonard E. Jones: Taking Control Of Destiny
by Barbara Ina Frenz
Bassist and photographer Leonard E. Jones laid the foundation of his musical and artistic ideas as an original member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. The AACM ranks as the most well-known and influential organization of the 1960s under African American leadership that created American experimental music through challenging “racialized limitations on venues ...
Meet Saxophonist Zoe Obadia
by Sanford Josephson
This article first appeared in Jersey Jazz Magazine. In April 2019, alto saxophonist Zoe Obadia sat in with the Bill Charlap Trio to play Dave Brubeck's “Time Out" at International Jazz Day. “I was definitely very nervous to sit in with such an established and refined trio," she said," but I had fun and ...
Michael Bisio: In His Own Words
by Mark Corroto
If you happen to be a liner note geek you probably have noticed the name Michael Bisio mentioned frequently on album sleeves. Whether the author is the session leader or analyst, the general consensus is the bassist is the cornerstone upon which great music is built. His playing allows a fellow musician to access not only ...
Mary LaRose: Out Here
by Mark Corroto
Vocalist Mary LaRose has explored the instrumental music of jazz artists in the past, penning lyrics to the music of Thelonious Monk,Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, and Charles Mingus. Also included in her previous releases is the music of Eric Dolphy, who has always been a spirit guide for LaRose. With Out Here, she dedicates an entire ...
A Different Drummer, Part 5: Terri Lyne Carrington
by Karl Ackermann
In her 2003 Carnegie Mellon University paper Experience West African Drumming: A Study of West African Dance-Drumming and Women Drummers, Leslie Marie Mullins explains that drumming was explicitly the territory of male musicians in West Africa. Mullins reveals that several myths were employed to keep women and drums far apart. Among them, Ghanaian women were thought ...
Dave Holland Trio, Sonny Simmons, Astral Spirits & El Negocito Releases
by Maurice Hogue
There's something in this episode for just about everybody. You'll hear samples from the new Dave Holland trio project, some hard-nosed improv from new releases on the Astral Spirits label (including a re-release of Cleveland's legendary Vernacular Trio), a look through some releases from the interesting catalogue of Belgium's El Negocito Records, a walk down memory ...
20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Rick Mandyck
by Paul Rauch
The city of Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and 1930's. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the ...
Thomas Marriott: Trumpet Ship
by Paul Rauch
In a day and age when social and personal narratives pervade the jazz recording medium, it is a welcoming feeling to experience a recording of superb jazz musicians playing music in the moment the way it's supposed to be played—for the people. For his spring 2020 quartet release Trumpet Ship (Origin, 2020), Seattle-based trumpeter ...
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