My name is Lance Parker I'm from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania I was a student of the great saxophone players Sonny stitt from the time I was 17 until I was 21 I would travel with sunny in hotels to Columbus Cincinnati Rochester Buffalo and play at places like the Taj mahal The high chaparral The pickle barrel etc during this time Sunny would bring me up the last half an hour of the set and let me play with all the greats Jackie bard Pat Metheny slide Hampton Kenny Clark Don Patterson groove homes Jimmy Smith Lewis Hayes Monty Alexander Jackie Bard Kenny Burrell Ray Brown and many more I was the envy of every jazz kid in the city of Pittsburgh 1978 Sonny stitt gave me his summer Mark 7 tenor saxophone which he Cherry picked at the Elkhart Indiana saxophone company selmer where he sat down for 6 hours he said and Cherry picked about 18 to 20 horns until he finally like the one that he wanted I have that horn and that's the horn I played all my life he also gave me his 1938 busher Big b alto saxophone that he played with dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker when he was younger and he also gave me a mouthpiece that belong to Gene ammons jug Sonny stitt turned me into a excellent saxophone player while I was studying with Sonny I also studied four and a half years classical saxophone with Jerome Levine from Carnegie Mellon University in 1976 I was featured at cedar point amusement Park when the country turned 200 years old for the bicentennial show America sings cedar point went all over the country every major city in audition Young musician singers and talent I came in number 1 tenor saxophone player in the auditions for them in Pittsburgh at the Westin William Penn hotel spend three and a half months there doing three four shows a day fantastic time in my life since then I've worked with Johnny Mathis Harry belafonte The Marcels The stylistics Steve Lawrence and Edie gorme Jack Jones and even had a chance to play at the Las Vegas Hilton with the Wayne Newton orchestra back in the early '80s but I had a pawn shop here in Pittsburgh at a very young age at 24 LOL LOL and was playing with a group called five guys moewell actually Jimmy sapienza and five guys named Moe I continued to work with Jimmy for 45 years plus through the big shows in Pittsburgh until Jimmy passed away a year and a half ago I still have a giant musical note sitting on a wood block trophy that says to Lance Parker my dearest friend in best student Sonny stitt Jerome Levine my classical instructor at Carnegie Mellon gave me my chops and all my basics in the overall knowledge of the saxophone and the dexterity of the instrument Sonny stitt gave me my improvisational mind and my big fat subtones like Coleman Hawkins in the lower register in the fast electrical runs up and down with various improvisational patterns that I still mesmerize people with today lol lol only once in a lifetime is a 17-year-old guy meet a great jazz player like Sunny stitt and travel with him and stay in hotels with him and then in the daytime go into the ballroom of the hotel or the convention room and sit there for 2 hours a day and get a lesson from the great Sunny stitt and then that night go to a jazz club and be brought up the last half an hour or 40 minutes of the set to play with all the jazz greats and legends this is only dreams that are made of but I live that dream I love you jazz legend sonny stitt and I still listen to you everyday now that we have the internet every day of my life and before I go up on stage and I blow that Mark 7 Tenor saxophone that you gave me in 1978 I say a little prayer to you every single time before I play and I thank you for all the lessons of teaching me how to have a big sound play ballads soft and beautiful like Coleman Hawkins do extensive jazz runs and patterns like you did and have a big sound people say when they close their eyes I sound 50% Sonny stitt and 50% Stanley turrentine I'm 65 now and I still get standing ovations from studying from the master the great legend saxophone player Sonny stitt this message from Lance Parker Pittsburgh Pennsylvania saxophone player
This video is a pure gem of some of the greatest jazz players of all time! Sonny's playing on Lover Man is so beautiful ! OMG !! This is wonderful! Thanks for posting !!
Each one of these guys both played AND recorded extensively with Bird and Diz. You really couldn't put together a better lineup of first-rate modern jazz men. This is truly an extraordinary capture.
Just MHO, but I think Sonny Stitt was at his best when he had other horn players to bounce off of, interact with and--dare I say it?--get competitive with. I love the interplay on the albums he made with Gene Ammons for example. I saw him once at the Jazz Safari in Long Beach CA sometime in the late '70s/early '80s with the great but lesser known tenor master Red Holloway who, totally undaunted, gave Mr. Stitt a run for his money. They spurred each other on, quite a treat.
This is the best, pure Bebop, on the top! What a cast! All pioneers from the very beginning, all in top shape, everything fits together. First class solos. And Kenny Clarke, Klook, swings like from another world. You can see how he enjoys playing with these colleagues at this level. The way he introduces his short statments at the drums (32:30), looking completely relaxed at the ceiling, that's so cool, that amazing feeling! What a difference to a circus artist like Buddy Rich. This is music, pure music, no circus. That is what Klook was famous for, the pioneer and bebop father! God bless him for his music and his immortal contribution in developing the drums. A jewel this clip, Now's the Time now in full length. Many thanks!!!
Swing? Almost impossible to define, that is, until you hear something like this where all involved are utterly on-message. Just wonderful, life enhancing music
Kenny Clarke and Miles Davis said once they both heard Stitt playing that way before both of them hear Parker, so maybe if there was no Charlie Parker, Stitt would be the guy to influence the other alto player. Of course is my personal opinion. I saw Stitt live here in Puerto Rico, around 1978. My jaw was at the floor all night.
Diz and Bird called Kenny Clarke (one of the first recognized bop drummers) “Klook Mop” - for his accenting the fourth beat using the rim ; 1 - 2 - 3 - klook (rim on 4) mop (1)
Bigger names among bop/ hard bop trumpeters (Diz, Brownie, Farmer, Dorham, Hubbard etc) tend to overshadow great players like McGhee, Johnny Coles, Richard Williams, Idris Sulieman, Donald Byrd and many others. All worth listening to and learning from.
What Stitt didn't say verbally, he certainly made up for it playing alto saxophone!..In saying that, he was more than proficient on all the horns and an outstanding musician!!
What a great band! I got to hear (and record) a lot of Stitt in a couple of small Chicago clubs in the mid-'70s, and to hear J J live in that time frame
@@jazzdorefree194 good back story thanks, i noticed that about Stitt like when he gives McGhee his back and not appearing cold to McGhee's solo. By contrast JJ like McGhee is totally into the music. JJ is very kind.
I hadn't heard this. Wow! This popped up in the screen margin just after listening again to Sonny Side Up, perhaps the best bop concert you'll hear, but this must be the best one you will see, as well. What a gift! Thanks to the excellent Brit cameramen, too.
Amazing performance by everyone. Shame the interviewer was condescending and didn’t let Stitt finish speaking and answer questions. This is a jazz legend who deserves to be listened to in detail.
At last the whole recording! Many thanks for the upload. Where did you dig this up? Even the commercial DVD of this session "We Remember Bird" cuts out the intros and dialogue and edits for missing footage at the end of Now's The Time :(
How about a date and location? I’m not Kreskin, you know. I like how J.J. Johnson drops a reference to “Willow Weep for Me” during his solo on “Now’s the Time.”
@@billkirchner6738 I think I've only ever seen photos of him with a beard and specs. "My Music" on BBC Radio 4 was a regular gig for him which I used to listen to even though I did not know or like most of the music in the "quiz".
Sonny Stitt is insanely good.
a virtuoso in every regard the BEST player when combining his skill on alto and tenor
This was broadcast on BBC2 as "In Memoriam - Charlie Parker". Part 1 went out at midnight on November 7, 1964; Part 2 on February 6, 1965
Howard McGhee is hidden gem and grossly under-rated
I love the way JJ Johnson opens his solo with that quote from Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring.
Yeah, and a few beats later Peter and the Wolf
Ditto... Laughed out loud/clapped when I first heard that, while rolling down HWY 98 in northern Florida
nice catch, lol
My name is Lance Parker I'm from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania I was a student of the great saxophone players Sonny stitt from the time I was 17 until I was 21 I would travel with sunny in hotels to Columbus Cincinnati Rochester Buffalo and play at places like the Taj mahal The high chaparral The pickle barrel etc during this time Sunny would bring me up the last half an hour of the set and let me play with all the greats Jackie bard Pat Metheny slide Hampton Kenny Clark Don Patterson groove homes Jimmy Smith Lewis Hayes Monty Alexander Jackie Bard Kenny Burrell Ray Brown and many more I was the envy of every jazz kid in the city of Pittsburgh 1978 Sonny stitt gave me his summer Mark 7 tenor saxophone which he Cherry picked at the Elkhart Indiana saxophone company selmer where he sat down for 6 hours he said and Cherry picked about 18 to 20 horns until he finally like the one that he wanted I have that horn and that's the horn I played all my life he also gave me his 1938 busher Big b alto saxophone that he played with dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker when he was younger and he also gave me a mouthpiece that belong to Gene ammons jug Sonny stitt turned me into a excellent saxophone player while I was studying with Sonny I also studied four and a half years classical saxophone with Jerome Levine from Carnegie Mellon University in 1976 I was featured at cedar point amusement Park when the country turned 200 years old for the bicentennial show America sings cedar point went all over the country every major city in audition Young musician singers and talent I came in number 1 tenor saxophone player in the auditions for them in Pittsburgh at the Westin William Penn hotel spend three and a half months there doing three four shows a day fantastic time in my life since then I've worked with Johnny Mathis Harry belafonte The Marcels The stylistics Steve Lawrence and Edie gorme Jack Jones and even had a chance to play at the Las Vegas Hilton with the Wayne Newton orchestra back in the early '80s but I had a pawn shop here in Pittsburgh at a very young age at 24 LOL LOL and was playing with a group called five guys moewell actually Jimmy sapienza and five guys named Moe I continued to work with Jimmy for 45 years plus through the big shows in Pittsburgh until Jimmy passed away a year and a half ago I still have a giant musical note sitting on a wood block trophy that says to Lance Parker my dearest friend in best student Sonny stitt Jerome Levine my classical instructor at Carnegie Mellon gave me my chops and all my basics in the overall knowledge of the saxophone and the dexterity of the instrument Sonny stitt gave me my improvisational mind and my big fat subtones like Coleman Hawkins in the lower register in the fast electrical runs up and down with various improvisational patterns that I still mesmerize people with today lol lol only once in a lifetime is a 17-year-old guy meet a great jazz player like Sunny stitt and travel with him and stay in hotels with him and then in the daytime go into the ballroom of the hotel or the convention room and sit there for 2 hours a day and get a lesson from the great Sunny stitt and then that night go to a jazz club and be brought up the last half an hour or 40 minutes of the set to play with all the jazz greats and legends this is only dreams that are made of but I live that dream I love you jazz legend sonny stitt and I still listen to you everyday now that we have the internet every day of my life and before I go up on stage and I blow that Mark 7 Tenor saxophone that you gave me in 1978 I say a little prayer to you every single time before I play and I thank you for all the lessons of teaching me how to have a big sound play ballads soft and beautiful like Coleman Hawkins do extensive jazz runs and patterns like you did and have a big sound people say when they close their eyes I sound 50% Sonny stitt and 50% Stanley turrentine I'm 65 now and I still get standing ovations from studying from the master the great legend saxophone player Sonny stitt this message from Lance Parker Pittsburgh Pennsylvania saxophone player
guau men! amazing life! i need learning improvisational patterns. thank you. saludos
Too amazing of a life!!!
Watching KC on drums with JJ Johnsons solo is just spectacular jazz
This video is a pure gem of some of the greatest jazz players of all time! Sonny's playing on Lover Man is so beautiful ! OMG !! This is wonderful! Thanks for posting !!
Each one of these guys both played AND recorded extensively with Bird and Diz. You really couldn't put together a better lineup of first-rate modern jazz men. This is truly an extraordinary capture.
I totally concur, these jazz artist are all true Master's on their own!!!, may they all RIP🎶🎷
Better is not.
Sonny Stitt. As good as anyone.
Yep! when I see and lisson to these gentleman, I think that angels must be yeleous. With all respect offcours and i feel trill❤
Now you can imagine how good these people were!
Truly visionaries and jazz worshippers!:
www.youtube.com/@jonnreyna1
Just MHO, but I think Sonny Stitt was at his best when he had other horn players to bounce off of, interact with and--dare I say it?--get competitive with. I love the interplay on the albums he made with Gene Ammons for example. I saw him once at the Jazz Safari in Long Beach CA sometime in the late '70s/early '80s with the great but lesser known tenor master Red Holloway who, totally undaunted, gave Mr. Stitt a run for his money. They spurred each other on, quite a treat.
This is the best, pure Bebop, on the top! What a cast! All pioneers from the very beginning, all in top shape, everything fits together. First class solos. And Kenny Clarke, Klook, swings like from another world. You can see how he enjoys playing with these colleagues at this level. The way he introduces his short statments at the drums (32:30), looking completely relaxed at the ceiling, that's so cool, that amazing feeling! What a difference to a circus artist like Buddy Rich. This is music, pure music, no circus. That is what Klook was famous for, the pioneer and bebop father! God bless him for his music and his immortal contribution in developing the drums. A jewel this clip, Now's the Time now in full length. Many thanks!!!
- Interesting comments about "Klook" on drums 🎶👌
I would not knock Buddy Rich. He is just a different type of artist. I must admit that this jam has deeper feeling.
@@nyvcr502 / Exactly 👌 🎶
Outstanding commentary on Kenny Clarke, my favorite from all those 1940's and 1950's Bop sessions.
Music is truly an international language, no matter the type of music.
🙌🏾🙌🏾
Swing? Almost impossible to define, that is, until you hear something like this where all involved are utterly on-message. Just wonderful, life enhancing music
So inspiring! I'll never be as good as these guys cos they're *living* their jazz and I'm learning, but what a goal to aim for!
Sonny's solos were absolutely brilliant! Definite Bird influence in his playing.
Kenny Clarke and Miles Davis said once they both heard Stitt playing that way before both of them hear Parker, so maybe if there was no Charlie Parker, Stitt would be the guy to influence the other alto player. Of course is my personal opinion. I saw Stitt live here in Puerto Rico, around 1978. My jaw was at the floor all night.
@@ricardoayala2023 What an experience! One of the things I missed out on being a youngster!
Who was'nt inspired by Birds playing ? I think all not only altosaxplayers but all Jazzmusiance.
For me, sir , Stitt is top notch. Yes ! Gracias ! @@ricardoayala2023
Diz and Bird called Kenny Clarke (one of the first recognized bop drummers) “Klook Mop” - for his accenting the fourth beat using the rim ; 1 - 2 - 3 - klook (rim on 4) mop (1)
Kenny Clarke was one of the Inventors of Be Bop. Revolutions in Music are mostly driven by new Rhythms, especially in Jazz.
Damn, I need to listen to more McGhee. That opening solo is unbelievable.
As with so many others in this period of the music, Howard McGhee's career was bighted by the big H. That is why he is not better known.
Check out McGhee's album Shades of Blue. Some of his best recorded solos and compositions.
Bigger names among bop/ hard bop trumpeters (Diz, Brownie, Farmer, Dorham, Hubbard etc) tend to overshadow great players like McGhee, Johnny Coles, Richard Williams, Idris Sulieman, Donald Byrd and many others. All worth listening to and learning from.
Howard McGhee’s playing is insane on Art Blakey meets Monk LP
@@luiszuluaga6575 that's Bill Hardman on trumpet, not Howard McGhee.
What Stitt didn't say verbally, he certainly made up for it playing alto saxophone!..In saying that, he was more than proficient on all the horns and an outstanding musician!!
Well...no words...music at its highest ..thank you for having been on this earth at some time...now is the time...to...remember...
The way Stitt weaves his way through the changes is almost perfect. The resolutions!!!
What a great band! I got to hear (and record) a lot of Stitt in a couple of small Chicago clubs in the mid-'70s, and to hear J J live in that time frame
You are lucky guy!
I was there in the sixties to a concert of this marvelous group at the Teatro dell'Arte in Milan, Italy, dedicated to Charlie Parker!
Woah sounds like Howard McGhee influenced Freddie Hubbard and why not! Cool cat, epitome 😎
@@jazzdorefree194 good back story thanks, i noticed that about Stitt like when he gives McGhee his back and not appearing cold to McGhee's solo. By contrast JJ like McGhee is totally into the music. JJ is very kind.
It doesn’t get better than this! Elegant, refined, sophistication! Love every note that hangs on the breeze like a spring orange blossom...
Yes!
The love for the music and each other is what Jazz is all about!
Ça c'est du swing!Ça c'est du Jazz! Irremplaçable ! Éternel !❤
Stitt, best alto.
Many thanx!
Thank you for this video. These great players all worked with Bird, great to put faces to names I only knew from record labels!
Masters of Jazz Music. Every Last One of them...swing , men swing
That trombone was out a sight!
Everyone is so great ❤❤❤❤❤
Sonny Stitt is one of the best Saxophonists of all time. Garland Jackson, Jazz 🎷🎤Lover & Musician based in Los Angeles, Ca. “GO SONNY GO.”
Jj Johnson. My fav trombone player
The Charlie Parker style of playing and blowin. And it was great!
The best of bebop. Best players of the time. Yasssss
Great stars of the firmament..
Incredible this video has all "Likes" even the 6 people on the opposite side of world voted for this great video. Great post.
Stitt quoited the intro of Chopin’s revolutionary march
When exactly in the video??
I hadn't heard this. Wow! This popped up in the screen margin just after listening again to Sonny Side Up, perhaps the best bop concert you'll hear, but this must be the best one you will see, as well. What a gift! Thanks to the excellent Brit cameramen, too.
Lord have mercy. Some jamming music.
Oh ya! Is this freakin great or what!!! Tommy Potter, NHOP, and Mr. PC himself - Paul Chambers - were my favorite acoustic bassists ever.
This is great for my music feeling. Sonny Stitt must be the greatest musicicien and alto sax player efter Parker?
sonny takin the piss with that first solo lol
Perfect movement in a piece of music. Just perfect.
Fantastique document !
Wow, what a tribute...AMAZINGLY BRILLIANT.!
GOD magnificient! Jazz on eternal.....
Thank you for posting! Legendary group of musicians. Gave me the chills.
Stitt es una gran influencia para mi
Fantastic camera work and performance!
Mj Johnson on the trombone. Yasssssssssssss
Brilliant
Ooooooo weeee. Yasssssss. Bad ass jamming jazz players. Yasssss
👏🏾👏🏾
I love how they get on Sonny at the end lol. "You took a hundred thousand choruses on the first blues. Keep it brief motha*#&$!"
When/who said this to Stitt?
Beautiful Music.
凄まじい豪華なメンバー!
Swingin' ❤
Git that trombone on the money. Yassssssss
Aww Stitt!
Ça fait plaisir ! Merci pour le son. Merci à tes co-workers
Tommy Potter is playing BASS and staying in the bottom between the drum and piano. That's
why his solo stands out!
I wonder what Tommy Potter who played extensively with Bird is thinking listening to Stitt?
SONNY STITT 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I guess this is the music they listen in Heaven
La perfection !
Baby baby baby. Yes indeed now
Amazing performance by everyone. Shame the interviewer was condescending and didn’t let Stitt finish speaking and answer questions. This is a jazz legend who deserves to be listened to in detail.
Probably on a limited time schedule
Stitt is definitely Mr. alto sax on this one!
Straight into my save list for jazz on YT and I'll check out CDs (over LPs and fluff on the stylus).
BUENISIMO !!!!! BRAVISSIMO !!!!!
Hell yeah!
At last the whole recording! Many thanks for the upload. Where did you dig this up? Even the commercial DVD of this session "We Remember Bird" cuts out the intros and dialogue and edits for missing footage at the end of Now's The Time :(
Best music every
Brava gente!!!!!!!
“We Remember Bird: Berlin & London 1964”
Históricos de esta musica que amo que es el JAZZ!!!!
Clear, yes !
Great to see the embouchure up close. He has a 90 degree angle from the mouthpiece to his face and its offset to the side quite a bit.
How about a date and location?
I’m not Kreskin, you know.
I like how J.J. Johnson drops a reference to “Willow Weep for Me” during his solo on “Now’s the Time.”
Wow.
29:18 - that lick 😮
That first track swings like a Mother.
the voice of the Brit host doing the interview at 21:00ish sounds so familiar -- quizmaster on My Word perhaps? anyone know?
Steve Race
@@billkirchner6738 I think I've only ever seen photos of him with a beard and specs. "My Music" on BBC Radio 4 was a regular gig for him which I used to listen to even though I did not know or like most of the music in the "quiz".
Steve Race made a couple of great bebop records himself in 1949 / 50
Were the introductions cut? The "Jazz 625" episodes usually have an introduction from either Steve or Humphrey.
What year was this ?
I can’t believe this lineup .
Better enjoy it before they take it off.
Oooooooo weeeeeeeeee
Sonny Stitt
Somebody know what mouthpiece use Sonny Stitt?
5:41 Sonny Stitt quoting Louis Armstrong on West End Blues and again at 6:39!
Amazing!!!!!
Alright now. Play it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Maggie without the shades!!
Early 60s?
From what I could find - Oct. 18, 1964
😃💙
sonny sure reminded me of Pete Yellen who i/m sure stood on the shoulders of bird and sonny
yeah buzzy at the end reminded me of bishop norman williams
I heard Norman Williams at a bar called the Juke Box on Haight and Ashbury in 1968.
I used to jam with the bishop in the 90s.
@@thomasarneson4511 what do u play i Played drums a thousand gigs w bishop 13 years weekly at les joulines among others what a joy
@@orionorion99 amatuer jazz piano. Use to hang with Walter Savage.
To : Monica
No-one strikes Bird.
All you kids, this was musician, Sonny Stitt don't forget-no AI , AUTOTUNE AS NATURE INTENDED