Early life
Edward Boatner was born in Boston, Massachusetts[1] and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. He had a musical background; his father, Edward Boatner, was a baritone singer, composer and college music professor, his brother was a classically trained pianist, and his mother was a piano teacher.[1] Boatner was soon adopted by another family, the Stitts, who gave him his new surname. He later began calling himself "Sonny".
In 1943, Stitt first met Charlie Parker, and as he often later recalled, the two men found that their styles had an extraordinary similarity that was partly coincidental and not merely due to Stitt's emulation. Stitt's improvisations were more melodic/less dissonant than those of Parker. Stitt's earliest recordings were made in 1945 with Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. He had also played in some swing bands, though he mainly played in bop bands. Stitt was featured in Tiny Bradshaw's big band in the early forties. Stitt replaced Charlie Parker in Dizzy Gillespie's band in 1945.[2]
Stitt played alto saxophone in Billy Eckstine's big band alongside future bop pioneers Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons from 1945 until 1956, when he started to play tenor saxophone more frequently, in order to avoid being referred to as a Charlie Parker imitator. Later on, he played with Gene Ammons and Bud Powell. Stitt spent time in a Lexington prison between 1948โ49 for selling narcotics.
Stitt, when playing tenor saxophone, seemed to break free from some of the criticism that he was imitating Charlie Parker's style, although it appears in the instance with Ammons above that the availability of the larger instrument was a factor. Indeed, Stitt began to develop a far more distinctive sound on tenor.[1] He played with other bop musicians Bud Powell and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, a fellow tenor with a distinctly tough tone in comparison to Stitt, in the 1950s and recorded a number of sides for Prestige Records label as well as albums for Argo, Verve and Roost. Stitt experimented with Afro-Cuban jazz in the late 1950s, and the results can be heard on his recordings for Roost and Verve, on which he teamed up with Thad Jones and Chick Corea for Latin versions of such standards as "Autumn Leaves."
Stitt joined Miles Davis briefly in 1960, and recordings with Davis' quintet can be found only in live settings on the tour of 1960. Concerts in Manchester and Paris are available commercially and also a number of concerts (which include sets by the earlier quintet with John Coltrane) on the record Live at Stockholm (Dragon), all of which featured Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers. However, Miles fired Stitt due to the excessive drinking habit he had developed, and replaced him with fellow tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley. Stitt, later in the 1960s, paid homage to one of his main influences, Charlie Parker, on the album Stitt Plays Bird, which features Jim Hall on guitar and at Newport in 1964 with other bebop players including J.J. Johnson.
He recorded a number of memorable records with his friend and fellow saxophonist Gene Ammons, interrupted by Ammons' own imprisonment for narcotics possession. The records recorded by these two saxophonists are regarded by many as some of both Ammons and Stitt's best work, thus the Ammons/Stitt partnership went down in posterity as one of the best duelling partnerships in jazz, alongside Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, and Johnny Griffin with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. Stitt would venture into soul jazz, and he recorded with fellow tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin in 1964 on the Soul People album. Stitt also recorded with Duke Ellington alumnus Paul Gonsalves in 1963 for Impulse! on the Salt And Pepper album in 1963. Around that time he also appeared regularly at Ronnie Scott's in London, a live 1964 encounter with Ronnie Scott, The Night Has A Thousand Eyes, eventually surfaced, and another in 1966 with resident guitarist Ernest Ranglin and British tenor saxophonist Dick Morrissey. Stitt was one of the first jazz musicians to experiment with an electric saxophone (the instrument was called a Varitone), as heard on the albums What's New in 1966 and Parallel-A-Stitt in 1967.
Later life
In the 1970s, Stitt slowed his recording output slightly, and in 1972, he produced another classic, Tune Up, which was and still is regarded by many jazz critics, such as Scott Yanow, as his definitive record. Indeed, his fiery and ebullient soloing was quite reminiscent of his earlier playing. He also recorded another album with Varitone, Just The Way It Was - Live At The Left Bank in 1971 which was released in 2000.
Stitt joined the all-star group Giants of Jazz, which also featured Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Kai Winding and bassist Al McKibbon) and made albums for Atlantic Records, Concord Records and Emarcy Records. His last recordings were made in Japan. In 1982, Stitt suffered a heart attack, and he died on July 22 in Washington, D.C..[2]
Stardust
Sonny Stitt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
The lyrics to Sonny Stitt's song Stardust evoke a sense of nostalgia as the singer reflects on a past love. The opening lines set the tone for the rest of the song with the imagery of purple dusk stealing across the meadows of the heart. The little stars that climb high up in the sky remind the singer that he and his love are apart. The second verse delves into the singer's thoughts as he wonders how he spends his lonely nights, dreaming of a song whose melody haunts his reverie. The melody takes him back to a time when he was with his love, and each kiss was an inspiration.
The bridge of the song takes a different turn as the singer imagines being back in the arms of his love, with the nightingale telling a fairytale of a paradise where roses grew. Although he dreams of being back with his love in vain, the memory of their love's refrain remains with him as stardust melody. The song's melancholic yet beautiful delivery captures the essence of lost love and the bittersweet emotions it evokes.
Line by Line Meaning
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
The feeling of sadness and loneliness that I feel when it is sunset.
Steals across the meadows of my heart
A feeling of sorrow and defeat that gradually takes hold of my heart.
High up in the sky the little stars climb
The stars that twinkle brightly in the sky, are a sign that even though we are apart, we are still looking at the same stars.
Always reminding me that we're apart
The stars that we are looking at are a reminder that we are separated.
You wander down the lane and far away
You left and went away, leaving me behind.
Leaving me a song that will not die
You left me a song that I can't forget and that stays with me.
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The love that we had, that once shone bright like stardust, is now gone and lost in the past.
The music of the years gone by.
The songs that remind me of our past love have become a part of my memories forever.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
Sometimes I think about how I pass the time alone.
The lonely nights
The nights that I spend alone, with no one to hold or talk to.
Dreaming of a song
I dream of a song that takes me back to our happier times.
The melody
The tune of the song that I dream of.
Haunts my reverie
The song that I dream of keeps coming back to me and never quite leaves my thoughts.
And I am once again with you
When I dream of that special song, I feel like I'm with you again.
When our love was new
It was a time when our love was young and new.
And each kiss an inspiration
Each kiss that we shared gave me hope and inspiration.
But that was long ago
Our love was long ago, in the past.
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
The only comfort that I find now is in the memories of our happy times, in the form of a song that reminds me of our love.
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
I imagine being with you, beside a garden wall, when the stars are shining brightly.
You are in my arms
I hold you close, as if we were still together.
The nightingale
The sound of a beautiful bird, who sings a beautiful song.
Tells his fairytale
The song of the nightingale is like a fairytale, and it reminds me of our once happy love story.
Of paradise, where roses grew
The nightingale's song tells a story of paradise, where beautiful roses used to grow, much like our love story.
Though I dream in vain
Even though I dream of being with you again, it is in vain, because it can never truly happen.
In my heart it will remain
But the memory of our love will always stay with me in my heart.
My stardust melody
That special song that reminds me of our love, like stardust.
The memory of love's refrain.
The memory of love's sweet melody will forever be in my heart.
Lyrics ยฉ Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHRISTOPHER GENTRY, JOHN HUTCHINSON DEAN, MATTHEW EVERITT, SIMON IAN WHITE, STUART BLACK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
mark higgins
Lucky enough to have met Sonny a couple of times and this sax player thinks he was one of the greatest. Genius for real
jose fiorelli
"... dreaming of a song... and know I'm once again wiht you..." Magic music. Great performance. Thank you.
thelma gutierrez ventura
es indescriptible la emocion que aflora el escuchar esta musica
Tsutomu IMAI
love it
stingray
ive been looking for this for ages after looking up "stardust jazz song" i finally got it
freeport54
Sonny picked alto for this beauty. They called him a player's player. For good reason. ย Thanks for the post.
william culhane
Saw Sonny years ago at the village vanguard. All heart..
Bryant Jackson
Mustโve been quite some time ago
vova47
Love it, post Cherokee,Borko, please!!!
Bea
i yelled into google search and this is what i got im not even lying