Sonny Criss

[Nate Dorward]

I was curious if there were any posters with opinions about Sonny Criss's work--I've been listening to his work often lately, & have an odd combination of a great affection for his playing (Parker filtered through Hodges, would be a nutshell description) while thinking that none of the discs I've heard exactly counts as a masterpiece. Probably the disc I like most is This Is Criss--great versions of tunes like "Black Coffee". & there's some great stuff on The Beat Goes On!, including the title-track, though it's not all good (the tambourine-laden "Ode to Billie Joe"). A nice, if hardly earthshaking, meeting with Georges Arvanitas & Rene Thomas in the recent Verve reissues of the Paris recordings. Portrait of Sonny Criss is often singled out as among Criss's best, but although it has some great stuff, like "God Bless the Child", it has some flaws--a terrifically energized "Wee" for instance is marred by some of the worst reed-squeaks I've ever heard outside a Charlie Parker outtake. Anyway, was interested in people's thoughts on Criss's music. The disc I really do want to grab is Sonny's Dream, which is the one with Horace Tapscott's arrangements.

[stonemonkts]

I'll bite on this one.

I too have mixed reactions to Criss, although generally speaking I favor his later works (This is Criss, Sonny's Dream). I enjoy these CDs occasionally whenever I'm in the mood for Criss' sweet bluesy sound which I'm also fond of very much.

I once owned his Complete Imperial Sessions (2 CD) which I felt was very one dimensional in terms of delivery and musical content. His playing on these early dates (circa 1956 if memory serves) are characterized by a monotoned, quite urgent delivery of standards...reminded me of what a younger nephew of Parker may sound like if he wanted to emulate and impress Uncle Charlie.
I don't mean to knock Sonny Criss at all but merely am pointing out how much he developed later.

Sonny's Dream rewards repeated listening, as the Penguin Guide likes to state (I concur with their 4 star rating).

[Pete C]

Sonny's Dream is great. I downloaded it fro Emusic. I'm in total agreement that he really developed into a wonderful, subtle player after some years as a bebop also ran.

[BFrank]

I'm finding the mid-60s stuff pretty entertaining. Even the pop tunes develop in interesting ways and aren't obnoxiously trite. "Up, Up and Away" is a good example.

"Sonny's Dream" is definitely worth getting as well.

I found the "Imperial Sessions" a little one-dimensional, too. It's a nice set of music, though, and I wouldn't trade it in.

[Jim Sangrey]

Listening to Criss' earliest (1940s) work, I'm consistently stuck by the tonal and rhythmical similarities to early Eric Dolphy. Seems to me that Criss may very well have been the foundation for an entire subschool of L.A. altoists, and also that that influence, conscious or subliminal, reached at least as far as Arthur Blythe in some direct lineage.

[Nate Dorward]

Yeah, I haven't heard Criss's early work such as the Imperial sessions--the Penguin Guide repeatedly insists on his being a Parker clone but the work of the later 1960s, which is what I know, doesn't sound one-dimensionally Parkerish by any means--as I said, there's something of a Johnny Hodges touch to it (I note the presence of "Day Dream" on the Verve reissue, too...). It's a great sound, & often I've liked his ballad work best.

I've no idea of the exact connections between Criss, Dolphy & Blythe--is there anyone here with that Central Avenue Sounds book on that scene? (I think that's the title?) Perhaps it would answer that question to some extent? There's also that Gioia book on West Coast Jazz which I haven't read for a bit--I recall it as being only so-so but having some useful information.

Anyone heard the very late Criss with Dolo Coker? There's a copy of Out of Nowhere in the 32Jazz reissue in the local 2ndhand shop, maybe I'll pick it up. I've always liked Coker's work on that Art Pepper disc Intensity, & his LP for Xanadu with Pepper & Blue Mitchell.

[Jim Sangrey]

The Imperial sessions aren't realy "early" Criss. For that you have to go to the Gene Norman Just Jazz concerts, and a bunch of "local" 78s that surely must have been collated by now (I just have the odd compilation here and there).

The "Parker Clone" is a convinient tag for lazy historians and casual listeners, but it implies a lack ot personal "flavor" in Criss tat is just not accurate, as any serious listening will reveal. His tone alone is uniquely personal, and tone for me is the FIRST requisite for consideration as an individual voice. Criss' phrasing is also his own. Parkeresque, sure, but endowed with a personal quality that, coupled with his tone, means that I can easily tell it's Sonny Criss, and nobody else. Clone? No freakin' way.

From all I can gather, Criss, like Teddy Edwards, was a first-generation L.A. bebopper. The way I've seen this kind of regional sound develop is that one or two cats set it up, and everybody else works in and with it naturally. The link between Criss & Dolphy is, I think, a sure thing, becasue as a youngster in L.A., Criss' presecnce and influence would have been all but inescapable. If you hear Dolphy's earliest recordings w/the Roy Porter Big Band, you can hear Criss out the wazzoo! Criss was still active locally by the time Blythe came around, but by then, the connection may very well have been more of a legacy than a direct personal influence. But I DO hear it, Just as I can hear Von Freeman in David Boykin.

Out of Nowhere? Good but not great, but that's just my opinion.

[Joe Milazzo]

There are a number of boots and gray-market releases (INGLEWOOD JAM on Fresh Sounds comes immediatedly to mind) of Bird jamming with Criss which, as Jim indicates, more than put the lie to the whole "Parker clone" charge often leveled at Criss. There are also a couple of JATP issues on Pablo / OJC that contain valuable documentation of Criss' bop-era work. I would also add to Jim's comments that Criss' approach to the blues is very much his own.

Criss is also the inspiration for what is IMHO one of the great jazz quotes. Teddy Edwards once said of Sonny that he was like:

"A closet full of coats with the shoes underneath."

[Steve Reynolds]

I also like the late 60's sessions quite a bit

Sonny's Dream is the masterwork - even the occasional soprano playing on the disc is attractive

and thanks for pointing out the great version of Black Coffee on one of the fine quartet dates of the era on prestige

[Salvador Dali Lama]

Hey, he was better drummer than Eric Carr, thats for sure.

[Jim Sangrey]

No man, you're thinking of

http://www.libertyhall.com/gif/kriss.gif

[Scott Dolan]

Originally posted by Salvador Dali Lama
Hey, he was better drummer than Eric Carr, thats for sure.


And i suppose next you're going to try and tell me that Ace Frehley was a better guitarist than Vinnie Vincent?

[MRS]

I concur w/Milazzo. I have a couple of dates but that Inglewood Jam always sounds earthy and occasionally spirited to me. At least I think we're referring to the same thing. Mine's on Charley from 6/16/52 "Live at the Trade Winds" w/Bird, Chet Baker and Criss.