Search - Sonny Stitt :: Just the Way It Was: Live at the Left Bank

Saxophonist Sonny Stitt could play rapid-fire lines right out of the Charlie Parker songbook or roll out the funk-soul grooves that drove people vigorously to the dance floor. Just the Way It Was is of the dance-floor variety, featuring Stitt, organist Don Patterson, and drummer Billy James tearing it up at a 1971 live performance recorded by Baltimore's Left Bank Jazz Society. Stitt used his electric saxophone for this gig; though he did it regularly during this era, it was a controversial move in the jazz community, which didn't want its bop icons "wrecking" the tone of the sax with such gadgetry. Electric or not, Stitt rips notes from his horn like kernels from a corncob as Patterson and James keep things at a boil. This is certainly not Stitt in definitive form, but it offers an interesting and insightful look at a gifted band taking flight once again, and that certainly makes this worth checking out. --Tad Hendrickson