Sonny Stitt. Just in case you forgot how bad he really was, there’s a CD out there titled…
Sonny Stitt: Just in Case You Forgot How Bad He Really Was.
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With an all-star lineup of guest musicians including fellow saxophonists Richie Cole and John Handy, the CD, published by 32 Jazz, is a Stitt tour de force featuring the American songbook and classic bebop.
Among the selections is the Parker tune “Au Privave.” Like Bird and virtually all of the other great boppers and jazz musicians before, during, and after him, Stitt was steeped in the blues. “Au Privave” features Stitt blowing several headlong, muscular choruses, demonstrating exactly what an alto player of his caliber is capable of doing with the old, familiar twelve-bar form.
I thought you might enjoy letting your fingers travel the same patterns as Sonny’s did on his “Au Privave” solo. So here for your enjoyment and edification is my transcription of the first three choruses. Please forgive the sizing disparity between the two sheet music copies. I haven’t yet gotten image reproduction down to a fine science. But it’s Sonny’s inventiveness that is the focus, and I trust that will survive even my mutilations.
