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Topic: Sonny Fortune Dies At 79Posted By: snobb
Subject: Sonny Fortune Dies At 79
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2018 at 10:18am
Sonny Fortune, performing with the Elvin Jones Quartet
at Bimhuis in Amsterdam, on March 29, 1986. The celebrated saxophonist
died Oct. 25 in New York.
Frans Schellekens/Redferns
Sonny Fortune, a saxophonist whose powerful sound and assured yet
questing style made him a steadfast presence in jazz for more than half a
century, died on Thursday in New York City. He was 79.
The
cause was complications from a stroke, said his longtime booking agent,
Reggie Marshall. Fortune had been at Mount Sinai Hospital since
suffering a series of strokes in September.
Principally known
as an alto saxophonist, Fortune also had an authoritative voice on
soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones, as well as clarinet and flute.
His body of work spans the spirit-minded avant-garde and the most
swinging modern jazz, along with multiple strains of fusion — both as a
member of a well-documented Miles Davis band and on his own albums.
Because
Fortune emerged in the wake of saxophonist John Coltrane's death in
1967 — and had his most visible early appointment with Elvin Jones,
Coltrane's longtime drummer — his music has often been framed as an
extension of that legacy. He accepted this more as a gift than a burden,
also working in the early '70s with Coltrane's former pianist, McCoy
Tyner, and in the Coltrane Legacy Band, which featured Tyner and Jones
with bassist Reggie Workman.
But unlike some other avowed Coltrane disciples, Fortune never lost
his own voice to imitation. And it was possible to hear other echoes and
parallels in his work. Writing in The New York Times in 1975,
John S. Wilson described Fortune as a saxophonist "who draws out the
full tonal qualities of his instruments in much the same way that Duke
Ellington's great baritone saxophonist. Harry Carney, did. Richness and
completeness of tone are combined with great facility in almost
everything he plays."
Cornelius Fortune was born in Philadelphia, Pa. on May 19,
1939. Though drawn to music early, he initially gravitated to singing,
before turning seriously to the saxophone in his late teens. He studied
at the Granoff School of Music, which also counted Coltrane and
trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie as alumni, and found work with an assortment
of local rhythm-and-blues bands.
He moved to New York City in
'67, and on the advice of Coltrane, who'd been a friend and mentor in
Philadelphia, immediately sought out Jones. His other early sideman
appointments included stints with Mongo Santamaría, the Afro-Cuban
percussionist and bandleader, and Leon Thomas, the avant-garde soul-jazz
singer. Fortune also worked briefly with trumpeter Nat Adderley, and in
the high-octane big band led by drummer Buddy Rich.
The first album fully under Fortune's name is Long Before Our Mothers Cried,
a loft-scene artifact originally released on the Strata-East label in
1974; along with trumpeter Charles Sullivan and pianist Stanley Cowell,
it features a battery of hand percussion. The title track, one of five
Fortune originals, moves with determination, but no particular hurry,
through an Afrocentric groove.
Fortune employed a similar sensibility, and some of the same musicians, on two albums for the Horizon label, Awakening (1975) and Waves of Dreams (1976). Then came a series of fusionesque albums on Atlantic Records, like Serengeti Minstrel (1977) and Infinity Is (1978), which incorporated elements of funk and disco.
A renewed focus on swinging sensibilities in the '90s resulted in several notable albums on Blue Note, including Four in One (1994), a Thelonious Monk tribute featuring Kirk Lightsey on piano. A 1996 release, From Now On,was
hailed as a post-bop triumph; it features a first-rate band with
pianist John Hicks, bassist Santi Debriano and drummer Jeff "Tain"
Watts. (Among the featured guests are Eddie Henderson on trumpet and Joe
Lovano on tenor saxophone.)
Fortune worked periodically in recent years with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9J45FeubwU" rel="nofollow - a tribute band
called 4 Generations of Miles, featuring guitarist Mike Stern, bassist
Buster Williams and drummer Jimmy Cobb. He also formally acknowledged
his touchstone with a 2005 album titled In the Spirit of John Coltrane. Fortune's most recent release was a live album, Last Night at Sweet Rhythm, which bade farewell to a Greenwich Village club, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/07/arts/sweet-basil-to-close-this-month-new-club-planned-at-site.html" rel="nofollow - previously known as Sweet Basil, that had long been his second home.
According
to Marshall, the final gig Fortune played as a bandleader was in
mid-July, at Smoke Jazz and Supper Club in New York. "You know how they
say an athlete leaves it all on the field?" Marshall said. "Well, Sonny
left it all on the bandstand, right up until the end."
from www.npr.org
Replies: Posted By: js
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2018 at 10:47am
A great saxophonist, loved his playing with Miles in the mid 70s.