[Jazz House]

I think that this video

Sonny makes his sax steam like a kettle. It is freaking awesome!!!!

Enjoy.

Please post comments.

 

[CountSpatula]

Great playing 1:50 sounds weird...crazy.

 

[Mark R]

Thanks for that Saxophonus Bb. That was a fine bucket of funky, in da' pocket playing by Sonny. It is rare that I've heard him play with a different rhythm section than his own. After hearing Sonny lay that down it has me thinking I need to maybe look for another Berg mouthpiece :?

 

[hakukani]

Thanks for that Saxophonus Bb. That was a fine bucket of funky, in da' pocket playing by Sonny. It is rare that I've heard him play with a different rhythm section than his own. After hearing Sonny lay that down it has me thinking I need to maybe look for another Berg mouthpiece :?

No, No, Mark. Not a Berg! After playing an RPC? <shakes head in disbelief>

 

[RootyTootoot]

I am going to say something just a little sacriligeous now. I've seen that clip a couple of times and of course it's great and of course i've got most of the albums and they're all "great" by any standards. And of course i don't go for the crap dullards' opinion that somehow Sonny "sold out" somewhere in the 70's. But can you really say that the music at this point (in the clip) is as electrifying as Sax Colossus/Tour de Force, the Bridge etc? And I do understand that he had to move on and try new stuff and I applaud that, in fact. But are we not selling ourselves short if we don't admit that Sonny could yet rise again to new heights and to make music that will pin our ears back so completely that we'll realise that there is even more to be said? Maybe it's not over. This is my point. Sorry if that all sounds a little melodramatic but i do feel passionately about the music and Sonny is one of the very greatest of the great. I'd appreciate feedback here, even if deeply opposed.

 

[brianincairo]

Yes, I've seen that, also, a couple of times, and really love it. But, I'm also in love with Sonny's tone, so it's difficult for me to find something of his that I really don't care for....YouTube also has an amazing verison of "My One and Only Love"....

brian

 

[JazzItUp]

just awsome

 

[Dweekie]

Another awesome clip from the show Night Music. Pop goes the Weasel?

 

[Reedsplinter]

I am going to say something just a little sacriligeous now. I've seen that clip a couple of times and of course it's great and of course i've got most of the albums and they're all "great" by any standards. And of course i don't go for the crap dullards' opinion that somehow Sonny "sold out" somewhere in the 70's. But can you really say that the music at this point (in the clip) is as electrifying as Sax Colossus/Tour de Force, the Bridge etc? And I do understand that he had to move on and try new stuff and I applaud that, in fact. But are we not selling ourselves short if we don't admit that Sonny could yet rise again to new heights and to make music that will pin our ears back so completely that we'll realise that there is even more to be said? Maybe it's not over. This is my point. Sorry if that all sounds a little melodramatic but i do feel passionately about the music and Sonny is one of the very greatest of the great. I'd appreciate feedback here, even if deeply opposed.

I hear you, RTT. I don't really love what's on this clip, though I like it fine: it's not the best of Sonny "then" or now. BUT: I take into account that it's TV. A lot of what he's doing is grandstanding there: and he's entitled. I'm not criticizing it, because I think he's reading the situation and doing just the right thing for the occasion. He's moving, he's swinging his axe, he's pleasing the crowd. Like just about everyone else who visits this forum, I've seen Sonny perform a good many times, and he's a past master at reading the crowd; he'll go one way at an auditorium full of college kids, and another in a big concert hall performing for the tuxes. Sonny has done a huge amount for us over the years, and he's got a lot more music in him. This is just fine, but it's not Sonny blowing the back wall out of the universe: he's in people's living rooms, giving them what they want: a great show. And once in awhile, he throws in an impossible riff, just for the musicians, to show what he can REALLY do.

 

[grantonsax]

Sonny may be my favorite sax player ever, but not so much on this clip. Not only did those fake old keyboards sound awful but his tone was edgy and not as warm as usual. I think his reed was too hard or something so he could get that crazy altissimo.

 

[BlueNote]

I don't think Sonny sounds bad at all in that video. Even today, I do not hear guys that can play with that much clarity and definition (I can tell where one phrase ends and the next begins, not an exaustive improvisation of overly-complicated lines). His playing in that video isn't any "better" or "worse" than his earlier days, just different. If you listen to it for what it is, you'll get more out of it.