The Champ

Track Listings

1. Champ

2. Sweet and Lovely

3. Midgets

4. Eternal Triangle

5. All the Things You Are

6. Walkin'

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The hard swinging energy of the late 1950s post-bebop scene served Sonny Stitt well, and this long-unavailable reissue shows why. Stitt comes out kicking on the tenor sax, the instrument that helped him define himself away from Charlie Parker in the early 1950s when the younger Stitt was a promising bop alto player. Pugilist references aside, The Champ blooms with Stitt smoldering on alto for "Sweet and Lovely" and then taking off again in a slack, strutting clip on "The Midgets." Trumpeter Joe Newman blows a fine, open trumpet, keeping his attack almost full-bore even when he uses a mute. Stitt, though, is the champ on this CD. He molds his tone to suit the supple stair-climb melody of "The Eternal Triangle," wringing every note for all its shades of blue. --Andrew Bartlett

The Champ,Sonny Stitt,Muse Records,Bop,Jazz

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