Broadcast on 10-Mar-2008

Alto and tenor saxophone master Sonny Stitt(born in Boston Feb. 2,1924) was one of the most recorded musicians in Jazz. He liked to travel alone and pick up musicians to back him in whatever town be was in...he dealt in standard tunes and the blues and voiced them on either saxophone. He was a virtuoso and took no prisoners when it came to playing. Throughout his long career he was often called an imitator of Charlie Parker on alto and an imitator of Lester Young on tenor. He acknowledged their influences but he was his own man and toward the end of his life, he was finally recognized as an original 'great'. Sonny died on July 22,1982 from cancer....he was 58.