What's so "sad" about Stitt's Ellington set? I agree it's not among his best, but it's much more than competent and quite enjoyable to my ears. Recorded for Verve in 1960, it features a great rhythm section (the bass player you forgot is none other than Paul Chambers), and you certainly can't fault the quality of the material. Sure, it wasn't released until 1973 under the title Previously Unreleased Recordings (see below), but I think that had more to do with the sheer volume of his recording output at the time rather than the quality of the music. Btw, you had it backwards, Sonny plays tenor on three tracks, alto on the remaining five. Finally, I think you'll find that few, if any, members of this board consider Sonny to be nothing more than a "Bird imitator". That's the kind of ignorant or ill-informed opinion that you may find elsewhere, but not here.
Some worthwhile discussion of Sonny Stitt here:
and here:
You'll find a range of opinions.
Just for fun, compare what Moms said on the second thread above -- " All Stitt is very good Stitt and more than enough is much better than that. Just cuz certain yokels-- not thinking of anyone in particular, rather the general condescension towards Stitt-- couldn't keep up, that shouldn't be our problem, nor should we accept less esp. when there aren't any better ideas attached to the erstwhile 'alternatives'" -- to what he said at length about Stitt on the first one.
Reading through the threads, I noticed that. I guess that's what makes Moms Moms - for better and for worse.