Jump to content

Sonny Simmons - THE COMPLETE ESP-DISK RECORDINGS


JSngry

Recommended Posts

Smiley's awesome; that double LP on Arhoolie is great (erm, CD). There's also another from the same period on CD that Bert Wilson put out, Memorial Quartet, and it smokes...

Barbara and Sonny are on the Oublies Du Jazz LP ("That Ni--er Music"), which is funky and free and in demand as those sorts of things often are. Never had it, but it's probably interesting.

Back to you, Jim...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Barbara Donald is incredible

Hell yeah!

Just bought the vinyl of "Music From the Spheres" and am really enjoying the music. Barbara Donald does sound fantastic playing this style. Some solos really remind me of Booker Little, or where he might have gone if he lived a few more years after 61'. This music was recorded in 1966.

Boy, she sounds great--free but with technique! Her and Sonny Simmons play beautifully together!

Is she still alive? I wanna get those records she did for Cadence--good stuff?

Answering some of my own questions:

It appears Barbara Donald passed away--according to ESP promotion for this reissue. :(

Just bought Barbara Donald's 2 Cadence Lp's from the early 80's--

The liner notes(interview) speaks of her influences---Benny Harris was her teacher! He introduced her to Sonny Simmons--came to San Diego. "You have to go inside before you can even attempt to go outside and Sonny was already inside and was going outside. I was inside and he taught me to go outside. So I stayed down there 3 or 4 months, we just played everyday and he had me listening to Booker Little and I think he really influenced my playing..." "Listening to Booker Little and Eric Dolphy turned me all around".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the 2 LP's Simmons coled with Prince Lasha on Contemporary, which are excellent ('The Cry' from '62 nd 'Firebirds'from '67). Rumasuma is one I've been longing for on CD. I like the ESP's and Ancient Ritual.

New Newk is definitely the highlight from Burning Spirits, the rest gets a bit noisy, though sometimes I'm in the mood for that. Great waste of talent on there though (Lonnie Liston Smith, Michael White, etc.). Simmons also had a great english horn solo on "Nuttin' Out Jones" on Elvin Jones's 'Illuminations' album on Impulse in, I think, 1963.

Edited by felser
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...