Sonny Stitt - Cool Blues - Guitar Transcription

[MoMan]

Hi All,

I love Sonny Stitt and work on having a go at transcribing his stuff regularly. I find Parker's playing incredible and amazing but sometimes impenetrable in terms of me understanding what is going on. Sonny is very clear and logical and I find I can understand what is happening and learn more - but this might just be me! Obviously I love both.

As I have built up lots of wee transcriptions I thought I should perhaps share them so I downloaded Guitar Pro 8 and tried to sync the audio etc. I am not saying it is perfect so comments and feedback welcome.

This solo on Cool Blues contains simple and complex language, 8th note and ridiculous 16th note lines. I think almost any player can learn something from this:

Anyways - let me have your collective guitar wisdom related thoughts. If there is any interest I can post a few more with time. Fiddling around with Guitar Pro 8 takes time but I have Sonny's solos on Stella, TWNBAY, and couple more blues I could potentially post.

Cheers!

[bebopblues]

Thanks very much for posting this. What a great Stitt solo. By any chance can you post a PDF for downloading purposes? Thanks again!

[MoMan]

My pleasure sir!

Yes - it is a great solo. I am quite far from mastering it although I have stolen a few phrases I like here and there. I spent a lot of time messing with fingering choices etc. To be honest this may continue to evolve as I play through it.

Right now I have zero clue how I'll ever be able to get it up to speed. Some of the lines are so great at any tempo so I'll just keep playing it and see what happens. When the day comes where I can blaze through it I will let you know!

I've used the export to PDF feature in Guitar Pro and tried attaching it here.
If it doesn't work let me know and I'll try emailing the PDF to you.

I'd love to to see you have a go a few sections from it if you learn anything from this transcription.

I am currently working on a Hank Mobley transcription for Someday My Prince Will Come. It is a very beautiful solo.

[bebopblues]

Thank you so much, very kind of you to share! It downloaded perfectly. Horn solos are indeed a great source of inspiration and lines and this is a tasty one.

[GuyBoden]

Many thanks, I might steal some licks.

Sonny Stitt is great, I was listening to him this morning playing "Gone with the Wind".

[MoMan]

Definitely steal some licks! A solo like this can be returned to profitably many times over.

I love Sonny Stitt very much. I have been contemplating transcribing his stuff almost exclusively for as long as I can. It would be a bebop biblical canon for the ages :-)

In the meantime here is some Hank Mobley - another favourite of mine - playing Someday My Prince will come:

It would seem hard bop and post bop is my bag.

[Jimmy blue note]

I love Sonny's playing. His early playing was so influenced by Parker that it was almost a shadow of Bird to my ear. But he, like Jackie McLean emerged with a sound that was very much is own. It's an education for me to dive deeply into Stitt's music as his music changed and became so strongly his own.
One of my favourites was Tune Up. I listened to this album until it became as iconic for me as any of the Beatles records I had. At this time, Alan Dawson, the drummer on that recording was still very active and always generous about talking about history as he was making it (I recorded AD with Mike Stern and Harvie Swartz for a record at that time), and I really wanted to know about that Tune Up session.
I asked him "Did you know when you recorded that, did you have a feeling that something great had happened?" and he smiled. "Honestly, I don't even remember that session. In those days, you got the call, you went to the studio and you did the session."
But his stories about those times, about Stitt, about the era and how different it was and how the music was informed, that informed why I love the records the way I do.

[MoMan]

I agree - Stitt has his own voice.

Brilliant story about Tune Up. It's must be wonderful to have a connection to someone who knew and recorded a legend like Sonny Stitt. Interesting that it was like just another day in the office for AD!

If you have any Stitt stories share them please. From the few bits I've read he seems quite a tough (but perhaps fair) character in the somewhat odd tradition of jazz luminaries forcing learning and experience by roasting folks! E.g. George Coleman calling Cherokee in A major.

Honestly some of the stories are funny. Here is a YouTube video interviewing Davey Yarborough who studied with Sonny Stitt at his house.

The first time he played for Sonny he stopped him and said: "that is not how the song was written, if you are gonna play this music you need to pay homage to the composer and play the melody right, at least once!"

That makes me laugh, mostly from recognising it is true of my playing also.
Most of the lessons consisted of learning lines in 12 keys and constant focus on learning and mastering/embellishing melodies.

You can listen here:

[MoMan]

More Sonny Stitt!

This time There Will Never Be Another You:

I've tried to make this accurate as I can so hopefully you don't find mistakes! Some of the timing is tricky so it's intended to be readable above all else.

I've completed Sonny playing Stella also so can share or upload too if there is interest.