MAY 12

                   SONNY STITT

        Personal Appearance

               Recording Date:
                   May 12, 1957

               Personnel:
                   Kenny Dennis       D
                   Sonny Stitt          AS,TS 
                   Bobby Timmons   P 
                   Edgar Willis         B

LINK RETIRED

Review by Ken Dryden
While the comparisons to Charlie Parker were inevitable throughout a good part of his career, Sonny Stitt was very much his own man. He is in top form throughout this 1957 session made for Verve, featuring a very young Bobby Timmons on piano, bassist Edgar Willis, and drummer Kenny Dennis. Alternating between alto and tenor saxophone in a program consisting mostly of standards, Stitt is equally at home on each horn. His soulful tenor shines in "Easy Living," while the loping "Autumn in New York" showcases his exuberant alto. Timmons, who had just made his recording debut as a sideman with Kenny Burrell the previous year, hints at his potential with a blues-drenched solo in "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To." Long out of print and one of Stitt's best recordings at this point in his career, Personal Appearance was digitally remastered and reissued in a slim-line CD mini-record jacket as a limited edition; it is available until June 2007.