Though
Sonny Stitt recorded a lot, there are large gaps of material that have yet to be adequately documented on CD, particularly what he recorded for Verve. Thus, the
Verve Jazz Masters series rises again to the occasion, selecting from a dozen different Verve sources, including collaborative albums with
Gene Ammons and
Oscar Peterson, and guest shots on records by
Dizzy Gillespie and the so-called
Modern Jazz Sextet. From this vantage point of his career, the old line about
Stitt being a clone of
Charlie Parker doesn't hold water, for despite an occasional
Bird-like flurry,
Stitt had his own harmonic ideas and somewhat mellower tone on alto, and an even more individual majestic concept on tenor. The CD captures him in a quintessentially Verve series of diverse settings, with straight-ahead quartets, sextets, a lush
Ralph Burns orchestra session, an off-center
Jimmy Giuffre arrangement of "Laura," and mano-a-mano summit meetings, the most stimulating being a cooking, ten-minute jam with
Peterson and
Roy Eldridge ("The String").
Sonny even duels with himself -- on alto and tenor -- on "Sonny's Tune." All told, an excellent introduction to
Stitt in his prime. ~ Richard S. Ginell